Jamie Anderson won gold medal in this year's Winter Olympics at Pyeongchang but also made history as the first women's snowboarder to win two gold medals. Her first Gold was won four years back at Sochi. This is hot on the heels of Red Gerard's win in the men's snowboard slopestyle.
Jamie is also known by her nickname "mountain GOAT" (GOAT being an acronym for "greatest of all time"). Her impressive win was based on a ten point lead after her first run earning her a score of 83.00. With such a flawless run, Anderson declined a second run through and still managed to take top place. With the win, Anderson displaces the formerly reigning world champion, Canada's Laurie Blouin whose silver medal score was tallied at 76.33. Finland's Enni Rukajarvi brought home the bronze medal with a 75.38 final score.
Anderson dramatically slid down the finish straight into her boyfriend's waiting arms and wrapped the US flag around her shoulders.
<blockquote>“I’m so happy,” she said. “I’ve gone through so much this last year just preparing for the Games. Defending the gold is not an easy position to be in. I had a lot of pressure and I’m so proud of myself. I wanted to do a double nine on my first run and I went for it and realised I wasn’t going to clear the jumps. Thankfully somehow I connected with my lion power and found [my] feet.”</blockquote>
Women's snowboarding is a rapidly developing sport which meant that Anderson had to learn a few new tricks to keep up with the changes. She admitted she'd garnered a couple of injuries in the intervening years while developing new tactics for impressing the judges.
Related coverage:
https://thegoldwater.com/news/18220-First-American-Woman-Lands-Triple-Axel-in-the-Olympics
Source:
https://www.olympic.org/news/usa-s-jamie-anderson-wins-gold-in-women-s-snowboard-slopestyle
USA USA USA !!!!