Chloe Kim: Homeschooled Olympic Snowboarder

Image Credit: Team USA

Chloe Kim is an American professional snowboarder and one of the greatest female snowboarders in history. She is known for her Olympic gold medals, record‑setting tricks, and global influence in both sports and fashion. She made history at the 2026 winter games in Milano Cortina by becoming the first female snowboarder to consecutively medal three times.

Chloe was born on April 23, 2000, in Torrance, California. When she was just 4 years old, she started snowboarding at Mountain High Resort in the San Gabriel mountains of Southern California. Realizing her natural ability, her parents signed her up for the Mountain High kid’s team, and she took off from there.

Known for her explosive style, technical difficulty, and consistency under pressure, Chloe Kim competes for Team USA and specializes in the halfpipe. A halfpipe in snowboarding is a U-shaped snow structure that allows riders to perform aerial tricks by riding up and down its curved walls.

At 8 years old, Chloe went to live with her aunt in Switzerland, where she snowboarded in the Alps and became fluent in French. She was back in California by age 10 and began regularly training at Mammoth Mountain. Her parents, Jong Jin and Boran Yun, homeschooled her on weekdays and drove her to Mammoth Mountain on weekends. Her father famously quit his engineering job to fully commit to her training and traveling. Weekend after weekend, he drove her six hours each way to the resort in the Eastern Sierras.

Chloe joined the U.S. Snowboarding Team and started doing professional competitions when she was 13. Chloe was homeschooled from middle school onward so she could focus on her elite snowboarding career. Although she was enrolled at Mammoth High School, she rarely attended in person due to constant travel and training. Her academics were completed through homeschooling, which allowed her to balance school with international competitions.

Chloe made waves at age 14 when she became the youngest-ever Winter X Games gold medalist, dominating on the women’s snowboard superpipe in Aspen in 2015. Though she qualified for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the teen phenom was too young to compete and instead made her Olympic debut in 2018 at PyeongChang, South Korea, in her parents’ home country. Chloe won a gold medal there and she won another gold medal in Beijing, China, in 2022. She was the first woman to land back‑to‑back 1080s (2016), the youngest woman to win Olympic halfpipe gold (2018), and the first woman to land a 1260 in competition (2024).

Chloe Kim benefited in more ways than one from her flexible education schedule, which let her focus on training while completing her studies. After becoming an Olympic champion, she was accepted to Princeton University, where she studied for a year before taking a leave to return to full‑time snowboarding. Chloe admitted that college presented some struggles. Not only was she away from her parents, but it was her first time out of her comfort zone, and not surrounded by athletes like her.

Her successful return to the sport after a year of college studies was widely covered. Chloe Kim delivered another world‑class performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics, earning a silver medal in the women’s snowboard halfpipe after an intense final. She had been aiming for a third straight Olympic gold, having won in both 2018 and 2022, and she came remarkably close. But South Korea’s Choi Gaon, just 17 years old, overtook her on the final run. Even Princeton University noted Chloe’s near‑historic run, as she came “within one run” of what would have been an unprecedented three‑peat.

Chloe’s silver medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics still marked a triumphant comeback, considering she had suffered a dislocated shoulder in early January. At the time, Chloe said she wasn’t sure she’d even be able to compete due to her injury. She described winning the silver medal as deeply meaningful because of the mental and physical challenges she had to overcome to return to the sport.

Chloe also embraced her role as a mentor to Choi, who became the youngest women’s snowboard halfpipe gold medalist—breaking Chloe’s own record from 2018. She celebrated the success of Choi, calling it a symbolic passing of the torch in women’s snowboarding.

Chloe Kim isn’t just a champion and a good sport—she’s a cultural icon who has pushed the boundaries of women’s snowboarding, inspired young athletes worldwide, and used her platform to elevate the sport’s visibility. She has won five ESPY Awards, including multiple Best Female Action Sports Athlete honors. She has also drawn media attention for her fashion presence. She appeared at several high‑profile events after the Games, including the Vanity Fair Oscars party and collaborating with brands such as Roxy, eBay, and Vogue.

Chloe’s love of shopping and fashion started with her mother. She recalls searching for bargain finds, hitting Black Friday sales, and killing time at the mall together as a kid. “My mom is such a fashionista. She taught me so much,” Kim said. “And it’s been so fun, because now I’m able to spoil her and get her all these things.”

For the last two years, Chloe Kim has been making a documentary with partners Ken Kao (The Favourite), Nic Gonda (Hamnet), Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) and director Sue Kim (The Last Of The Sea Women). She looks forward to being able to look back on a film that captures her journey as a professional athlete. The film will not only explore her road to the Olympics, but also what this level of competition requires on a physical, emotional and psychological level.

Chloe Kim’s Olympic Medal Collection (as of 2026)