Winter Olympics: US snowboarder Red Gerard says 2018 Games gold was just for fun but he now realises ‘how big a stage it was’
- The 21-year-old burst on to the international scene as a 17-year-old with the ride of his life in 2018 at the Winter Olympics to take gold in slopestyle
- Now four years down the road, Gerard says he is more mature and will ‘definitely feel less pressure when I go out there since I’ve got one under my belt’
When American snowboarder Red Gerard won gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, he was just 17 years old and admits he didn’t fully comprehend the gravity of what he had accomplished.
“I grew up watching Dew Tour and X Games, not the Olympics,” the 21-year-old, who will look to defend his gold in slopestyle next month in Beijing, said. “I only realised after I won how big a stage it was and how much it would impact my life.”
His final run in South Korea, which featured a breathtaking move in snowboarding – a backside triple – was the culmination of a young athlete throwing it all out there with little to lose and everything to gain. Gerard credits this to the fact he simply treated the Games like any other competition.
“The first Olympics I had no pressure and I honestly did not know how big a deal it was to be there,” Gerard said. “That made me not overthink it and I was just out there having fun.”
Gerard has come a long way in a short time – four years to be exact. The sport of snowboarding has blossomed too, becoming one of the fan favourite events of the Winter Olympics since being introduced in 1998.
