Vermonter Rides Her Way To The First American Gold Medal

Author: Megan MichelsonLocal News Editor

Kelly Clark, 18, of West Dover, Vt., was the first American to win a gold medal at the 19th Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah in the women's halfpipe snowboard competition. The event was held on Sunday, Feb. 10. Clark's performance dominated the competition, bringing hometown pride to residents living near the Mt. Snow ski area, Clark's home mountain, as well as national pride across the United States for the first American victory.

Clark earned a nearly perfect score of 47.9 out of 50, beating out silver medallist Doriane Vidal of France who had a score of 43.0 on the 426-foot long halfpipe at Park City Mountain Resort. The halfpipe event attracted a sold-out crowd of 16,500 people, including many of Clark's family members and close friends.

As the youngest competitor of the day, Clark impressed judges with her third and final dynamic run that included big air and solid landings on all seven hits. Her winning run culminated in a maneuver called a McTwist, which is a 540-degree inverted flip, followed by a frontside 720, which is a 720-degree spin. Clark was also the highest rider over the lip of the halfpipe, reaching heights, or amplitudes, of up to six feet. Two judges scored riders for overall impression and three additional judges rated rotations, amplitude and tricks. Of the 23 women competing in Sunday's event, Clark was one of three Americans, including Tricia Brynes and Shannon Dunn.

The Guns N' Roses song "Welcome to the Jungle" played over the loudspeaker during Clark's run, which was her musical selection. But the young athlete chose to listen to Blink 182 on her minidisc headphones as she jumped and tricked her way to the gold. A rock band played during breaks of the snowboard competition and spectators danced and shouted, some with "U.S.A." painted on their chests.

Clark began snowboarding in fourth grade and started her own snowboarding club after losing interest in ski racing, which she had done for several years at Mt. Snow. She graduated from Brattleboro Union High School in 2001 and has deferred admission to the University of Rhode Island.

Her greatest snowboarding accomplishments prior to winning gold at the Olympics include winning medals in three World Cup competitions earlier this season and placing first in the U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix last year.

Clark's parents own a restaurant called T.C.'s Tavern in West Dover, where they offered free drinks on Sunday night in celebration of Clark's victory.

Clark spent the better part of her younger life at Mt. Snow and the Mt. Snow Academy, and she is well known by several Middlebury students from that area for her ex-ski racing career and her gold medal worthy snowboarding.

Tyne Pike-Sprenger '05 used to ski race with Clark up until age 12, when Clark switched over to snowboarding. "Even when we were ski racing, she was always practicing snowboarding," explained Pike-Sprenger. However, when Mt. Snow established a snowboard program, Clark was eager to join.

"When she started snowboarding, she was doing it just for fun," said Pike-Sprenger, who was not surprised when Clark eventually dedicated all of her time and energy to competitive snowboarding, which was obviously her prefered sport.

"She had a great season last year, and I know she was pysched about that,"said Pike-Sprenger.

Another Vermonter also earned a gold medal at the Games. Ross Powers of South Londonderry dominated the men's halfpipe snowboarding event on Feb. 12.