Jamie Anderson: Team USA’s Big Air Podium Hopeful
Jamie Anderson has held many exclusive titles that most Olympians only dream of. Until a few days ago, the 31-year-old was the only slopestyle gold medalist in Olympic history.
Slopestyle snowboarding became a winter Olympic event in 2014. Since its debut, Anderson has won gold in the event at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics — on top of the silver medal she won in Pyeongchang in the big air event. Anderson has earned gold at every Olympics she’s been to, a feat only a few Olympians can boast.
But you know what the most impressive part is? While Anderson has had some great success at the Winter Olympics, her best performances have been at the X Games.
Early in 2022, Anderson was able to come away with a silver medal in slopestyle snowboarding, which put her total X Games medal count at 21 medals — tying her with Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris. And that was just one of many medals Anderson has earned since her run at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Since Pyeongchang, Anderson podiumed once at the 2019 Aspen X Games, once at the 2020 Aspen X Games, twice at the 2021 Aspen X Games, and twice at the 2022 Aspen X Games. Of those six podiums, Anderson came away with three gold medals — she also won gold at the 2020 Burton US Open slopestyle event. Most recently, Anderson secured gold in the slopestyle finals at Toyota US Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain.
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Although Anderson loaded up on medals in the last few years, leading up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, she got the most important hardware of her life when she became engaged to Canadian snowboarder Tyler Nicholson. The couple announced their engagement via Instagram on Jan. 24.
Beyond the accolades and performances at major snowboarding events, Anderson prides herself on her reputation outside of competition. A California native, Anderson gives back to the snowboarding community by hosting multiple snowboarding camps annually, both in her hometown of South Lake Tahoe and nationally. Anderson also created a foundation, The Jamie Anderson Foundation, which is dedicated to giving back to youth to support their athletic dreams. On top of that, Anderson's foundation provides young winter sports athletes with equipment, clothing, snowboarding season passes, and financial aid for travel to USASA competitions. According to the foundation, they support young athletes to promote support for nature and the environment.
“By introducing winter sports to future generations and providing them access to the mountains, they are naturally guided to care about the environment and to create social movement,” Anderson said.
While Anderson didn’t podium for the slopestyle event at the 2022 Winter Games, she still has a chance to get another gold in the big air snowboarding event on Feb. 15, 2022. Click here to find out ways you can watch her compete for gold.
Photo credit: Instagram
