Jamie Anderson Makes History
Snowboarding extraordinaire Jamie Anderson, 27, defended her title on Sunday, winning gold in the women's snowboarding slopestyle final, NBC Sports reports. The 27-year-old Sochi champ came in first place despite dangerous wind conditions that prevented her competitors from completing their runs as planned.
The victory makes Anderson the first woman to ever win more than one gold medal in Olympic snowboarding. She'll have a chance at a third gold medal later these Games.
According to The Guardian, Anderson scored 83 points by exercising restraint on her first run. Attempting to execute some of the tricks she'd had planned could've been devastating, as the wind was so dangerous, it delayed the competition a full 75 minutes and prompted many of Anderson's competitors to just snowboard down the run without so much of a jump. A few of them even ended up hospitalized after their turns.
Austria's Anna Gasser called the judges' decision to go through with the event rather than postpone it until the wind died down unfair: “I’m a little disappointed in the organization that they pulled through with it." Britain's Aimee Fuller agreed, saying “I don’t feel like I had a fair shot at putting down my best run, the wind just took me sideways on the last hit. She continued: “Some girls were lucky. I think today was a matter of luck and the strong riders definitely showed." Gasser placed 15th; Fuller came in two spots lower.
Meanwhile, Anderson realized she'd maintained her spot the second she spotted her dad and boyfriend in the crowd. "I’m feeling so happy," she said before heading to the podium. "I've gone through so much this last year just preparing for the Games and defending the gold is definitely not an easy position to be in."
Oh, and also? This.