Jenise Lynae Spiteri (born September 20, 1992) is a

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

-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 ...

. The first Maltese

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

snowboarder, she competed in the halfpipe event at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

Biography

Spiteri was born on September 20, 1992, in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose, California, San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 accor ...

. She has

ancestry, with her grandfather having emigrated to the United States from there after his home was destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She grew up initially wanting to be an

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, appearing in several commercials when young.

Snowboarding career

Spiteri began her

snowboarding 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 Paralym ...

career in 2010 while at

Sierra Nevada College Sierra Nevada University (SNU) was a private university in Incline Village, Nevada, in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierras. It was governed by a seven-member board of trustees who were locally elected. In 2022, it was announced that the school w ...

, after writing a social media post that read "Wanted: someone to teach me how to ride pipe tomorrow. Anyone available?" Spiteri competed for the team at Sierra Nevada and decided her goal was to represent Malta at the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in ...

. A teammate made the suggestion and Spiteri realized it made sense as a way to pay homage to her grandfather, who died in 2010, as he had a connection to the Olympics through his company that produced figure-skating equipment for Olympians such as

Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired American competitive figure skating, figure skater and diplomat who served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Belize, United States Ambassador to Belize from 2022 to 2025. In ...

. Despite going through several injuries, including a

torn ACL An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

in 2012, another in 2017 as well as a

torn meniscus A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci. When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of ...

the latter year, Spiteri continued snowboarding. She was a top-15 finisher for Malta at the

2014–15 FIS Snowboard World Cup The 2014–15 FIS Snowboard World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIS Snowboard World Cup, organised by International Ski Federation. The FIS Snowboarding World Cup consisted of the parallel slalom, parallel giant slalom, snowboard cross, Half-pipe ...

and just barely missed qualifying for the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

by one spot, despite competing through her ACL and meniscus injuries. As snowboarding is expensive, Spiteri lived out of a car, then a van, and worked several odd jobs (including being an

extra Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

in ''

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

'') while reusing her gear each season, additionally opening a

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

account to help pay for the costs. She also ran several social media accounts, gaining over 30,000 subscribers on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Spiteri finally qualified for the Olympics in 2022, and thus became Malta's first Olympic snowboarder, their only participant at the 2022 games, and only their second participant all-time at the Winter Olympics in any sport. She served as Malta's flag bearer and competed in the women's halfpipe event, placing 21st, eating a bao between runs that she forgot she had kept in her pocket.

References

External links

Spiteri's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiteri, Jenise 1992 births Living people Sierra Nevada College alumni Maltese sportspeople American snowboarders Sportspeople from Redwood City, California Snowboarders at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic snowboarders for Malta