The United States captured the women’s snowboarding slopestyle Olympic gold medal with Jamie Anderson’s victory in Sochi on Sunday.
A new event at these Winter Games, slopestyle is a discipline in which competitors slide off rails in a course full of obstacles and try to impress the judges with high altitude stunts.
In the men’s competition, United States snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg , made history taking the gold in the first ever Olympics for the sport.
Jamie Anderson’s victory completed the United States sweep of the gold medals for slopestyle, effectively putting them into the history books.
#TeamUSA Photo of the Day: @Jme_Anderson during her gold medal performance in women’s #snowboard slopestyle! pic.twitter.com/u8cTut0CrF
— US Olympic Team (@USOlympic) February 9, 2014
GOLD for @Jme_Anderson for the first #Olympic medal in women’s snowboard slopestyle! #GoTeamUSA pic.twitter.com/ZzWzAfKCWs
— US Olympic Team (@USOlympic) February 9, 2014
Jamie Anderson of USA wins gold medal of women’s snowboard slopestyle finals at Sochi Winter Olympic Games pic.twitter.com/cx1RDS0YvU
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) February 10, 2014
The first woman to ever win Olympic gold in snowboard slopestyle is @Jme_Anderson #jamieanderson #slopestyle #teamusa pic.twitter.com/tVHH51YXd3
— Jim Bradshaw (@BodySoulSport) February 10, 2014
US Jamie Anderson in action winning Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final pic.twitter.com/Qk2JV7PrFO – @AFPphoto
— Inquisitr News (@theinquisitr) February 9, 2014
Gold medalists @sagekotsenburg and @jme_anderson coming up on @todayshow ! Live now! pic.twitter.com/qWgHxxQjLl
— Lou Dubois (@dubois) February 10, 2014
But the United States was not the only country making history on this day. British snowboarder Jenny Jones gave the UK their first ever medal in any snow sport at the Winter Olympics.
Shame @guardian_sport are asking if #jennyjones bronze was worth it, so rare to see a GB sportswomen on front pages http://t.co/BTsRnddsFg
— Cooler Magazine (@coolermag) February 10, 2014
LISTEN – Bronze medallist @jennyjonessnow ‘just proud to be at Winter Games’ http://t.co/CoZzREmxcT #r4today pic.twitter.com/W3JxeVl4RR
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) February 10, 2014
And here she is, what a day it has been, how many of you have been inspired by @jennyjonessnow today? #GoTeamGB pic.twitter.com/89xXHxMwcI
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 9, 2014
The 23-year-old from South Lake Tahoe, California had an impeccable performance and came through, as is her style, at a critical moment for the United States.
Jamie Anderson is the greatest female snowboarder of our times and she proved why on Sunday at Sochi, as she seemed at ease and her moves were natural.
In a post run interview, Anderson said:
“I was really just trying to stay calm and kind of reserve my energy. It was a lot of stress up there and even though it’s just another competition, the stage and the outreach that this event connects to is out of control.”
“I think most of us have been thinking about this for a few years. To just have that moment come so quick and really knowing this is your moment, you just want to shine and do your best and show the world what a fun sport snowboarding is.”
So far the United States has four Olympic medals, two gold and two bronze.
