Sage Kotsenburg (born July 27, 1993) is an American

snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic ...

. He won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in men's snowboard

slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes skiing, ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. Th ...

at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and became the first gold medalist at these Olympics. Kotsenburg won a silver medal in snowboard slopestyle at the 2012 Winter X Games XVI in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, behind Mark McMorris. Kotsenburg won a bronze medal in Snowboard Big Air at the 2011 Winter X Games XV in

, behind Torstein Horgmo and Sebastien Toutant.

Personal life

Kotsenburg was born in

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Coeur d'Alene ( ; ) is a city and the county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the most populous city in North Idaho and the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 54,628 at th ...

, but grew up in

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. Most of the city is within Summit County, Utah, Summit County, with some portions extending into Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is sou ...

. His parents are Carol Ann and Steve Kotsenburg. His father is a real estate agent. He has two older brothers, and a younger sister. Kotsenburg started snowboarding at the age of five with older brother Blaze. The three younger siblings snowboard together. Their mother acts as Kotsenburg's travel agent. Kotsenburg was homeschooled via the Alpha Omega Academy. He graduated in 2011. He has been a plant-based vegan since 2016.

Career

Kotsenburg made his US Open debut at the age of 12. At age 16, he won the slopestyle silver at the European X Games 2010. He landed the first-ever Cab double cork 1440 at Air & Style in Innsbruck in February 2011, took third at the 2011 Arctic Challenge, and was named to the U.S. Snowboarding Slopestyle Pro Team in December 2011. He won the Winter X Games XVI Slopestyle silver in 2012. Kotsenburg won slopestyle gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, nailing one trick he had never tried before and performing an original grab he invented, the "Holy Crail". He was the first gold medalist of the Olympic Games as well as the first medal for the United States. Soon after his success at the 2014 Olympics, he elected to leave competitive snowboarding in favor of exploring backcountry snowboarding. During the summer, Kotsenburg trains on Mt. Hood at High Cascade Snowboard Camp. For summer 2014, Kotsenburg and his Lick the Cat crew have been awarded a Signature Session.Signature Sessions, 2014
High Cascade Snowboard Camp

References

External links

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Sage Kotsenburg
at U.S. Snowboarding (archived) * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotsenburg, Sage 1993 births Living people American male snowboarders X Games competitors Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in snowboarding Olympic medalists in snowboarding Sportspeople from Idaho Sportspeople from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Sportspeople from Utah Sportspeople from Park City, Utah 21st-century American sportsmen