Born in Long Beach, California, Kim will hit the snow at the Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea, her parents’ origin, in February. This will be her first Olympics.
She first tried snowboarding at the age of four with her dad, Jong-jin Kim, who soon quit his job so he can drive her to training. Two years later, she was competing as a member of Team Mountain High.
Despite spending much of her time in icy mountains, Kim identifies as a city girl. At least 143,000 followers on Instagram ogle at her breathtaking moves on the snow and stops at the mall.
“My parents are really excited about it, and it’s some crazy luck that my first Olympics are going to be in Korea where my parents are from. And a lot of my relatives over there have never really seen me compete before, so I think it’s going to be pretty cool for everyone. It’s really exciting, my whole family is really excited about it, so that gets me even more stoked!”
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