Lindsey Jacobellis (born August 19, 1985) 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 ...

from

Roxbury, Connecticut Roxbury is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,260 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town is located northeast of New York City, and is p ...

. The most decorated female

snowboard cross Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...

athlete of all time, she dominated the sport for almost two decades as a five-time

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and ten-time

X Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Mo ...

champion. In her Olympic debut at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Jacobellis won the silver medal in

but was unable to medal at the next three Olympics until winning gold 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 ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Jacobellis also won gold (with teammate

Nick Baumgartner Nick Baumgartner (born December 17, 1981) is an American snowboarder from Iron River, Michigan. He competes in snowboard cross (SBX) and qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics. He won the gold and silver medals in the 2011 and 2012 Winter X Game ...

) in mixed team snowboard cross at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Early life

Jacobellis was born in

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2020 was 86,518. It is the third-largest city in Western Connecticut, and the seventh-largest ...

and grew up in Danbury and southern Vermont, where her family had a weekend home. Her parents, Ben and Anita Jacobellis encouraged her and her older brother Ben to participate in many sports. She was competitive from a young age, constantly trying to keep up with Ben or her father on the slopes. As a young child, she was primarily a skier, but she switched to snowboarding after the family's home burned when she was 8, destroying all her gear. She explains the switch by saying, "We couldn't afford to buy all new ski equipment; we could only afford to buy snowboards." She attended Vermont's

Stratton Mountain School The Stratton Mountain School is a college preparatory high school located at Stratton Mountain in Stratton, Vermont. The school was founded in 1972 by Warren Hellman and Donald Tarinelli. The current headmaster is Carson Thurber. Stratton Moun ...

, a college preparatory high school with a sports focus on training winter athletes, graduating in 2003. She was the only girl racing in snowboard cross and says that competing against boys influenced how she approached the sport.

Sports career

Jacobellis has

snowboard Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar ...

ed competitively in

, 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 ...

, and snowboard

halfpipe A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, Inline skating, skating, and scooter riding. Overview The structure resembles a cross-section of a swimming pool, essentially t ...

competitions.

Early career

At the 2003 Winter X Games, Jacobellis won bronze in slopestyle. She made her Olympic debut at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, making her first Olympic final in the process. During the

final, Jacobellis was approaching the end of the course with a 43-

meter The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

(140 ft), three-second lead over

Tanja Frieden Tanja Frieden (born 6 February 1976, in Bern) is a Swiss snowboarder. She won a gold medal in the inaugural Snowboard Cross competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics. In the Snowboard Cross finals at the 2006 Winter Olympics, Frieden was in secon ...

of Switzerland. On the second-to-last jump, Jacobellis attempted a celebratory

method grab In Boardsports, the method grab is a tweaked form of the melon grab, where the rider grabs the heel side of the board between the bindings, as per Jamie Lynn. Execution To perform the method grab, the rider begins by rotating their board 90 deg ...

, landed on the edge of her snowboard, and fell. Frieden passed her to win the gold; Jacobellis recovered and settled for silver. In televised interviews, Jacobellis initially said the grab was meant to maintain stability, but later said that "I was having fun. Snowboarding is fun, and I wanted to share my enthusiasm with the crowd". At the 2007

Winter X Games Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Diffe ...

, Jacobellis lost the lead in a fall near the finish line in snowboard cross. She dropped halfpipe from her competition schedule in 2008 due to increasing injuries. Jacobellis regained the gold medal in snowboard cross at Winter X Games XII in 2008.

2010–2013

Jacobellis failed to progress to the medal round of

at the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, as early in her semifinal race, she landed badly during a jump, and to avoid a collision with another rider, went through a gate, resulting in automatic disqualification; she then slid off the course. She ended up 5th in the standings. In 2011, Jacobellis won her fourth straight gold in snowboard cross at the

, adding to her gold medals in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

2014–2017

Jacobellis failed to progress to the medal round of

at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

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 ...

. She was leading the semifinal race when she crashed. She finished in 7th place in the overall standings. At the 2015 World Championship, Jacobellis won gold in snowboard cross. She also won th
2017 World Championship
and finished with a silver and two golds in the first World Cup races of the 2017–2018 season. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported that in the period between the 2014 and 2018 Olympics, in addition to her training, surfing, and other competition strategies, Jacobellis also began working with the mental skills coach Denise Shull.

2018–present

At 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 ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...

, Jacobellis made her second Olympic

final. After leading most of the way, she missed the podium by .003 seconds, finishing in 4th place. In her fifth Olympics, Jacobellis finally became the Olympic champion in

at the

. This was the first gold medal for the US in Beijing, ending a five-day gold medal drought. Various media outlets lauded her perseverance in winning after a sixteen-year chase for Olympic gold. Jacobellis followed up her individual gold by winning the debut of the mixed team snowboard cross with partner

Television

Jacobellis appeared on a charity edition of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

s '' The Challenge'', titled '' The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros''. She competed to raise money for the

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective mea ...

. She finished as the runner-up with her teammate in the final challenge,

Kamerion Wimbley Kamerion Wimbley (born October 13, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker and defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2006 NFL ...

. In addition to her athletic skill, she is known for her naturally curly hair and is sponsored by hair care brand Paul Mitchell.

Awards

* ANOC Gala Awards 2022：Best Mixed Team Event Performance of Beijing 2022

References

External links

* * * * * *
Lindsey Jacobellis
at NBC Olympics * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobellis, Lindsey 1985 births Living people American female snowboarders Snowboarders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2022 Winter Olympics X Games competitors People from Windham County, Vermont Sportspeople from Danbury, Connecticut Olympic gold medalists for the United States in snowboarding Olympic silver medalists for the United States in snowboarding Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Vermont Participants in American reality television series 21st-century American sportswomen