Chloe Kim may have won a gold medal, but her boyfriend has won her heart.
The snowboarding sensation, 21, won the gold medal in the women’s halfpipe at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Thursday after a dominant first run that earned her 94.00 points. It’s her second gold medal after she won in the same event at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, making her the first woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic gold in the snowboarding halfpipe.
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Perhaps no one was more excited than her boyfriend, skateboarder Evan Berle, who celebrated with a loving message on his Instagram story.
“Words cannot describe how proud I am of this girl right now!” Berle captioned a picture of them. “I am so honored to be a part of your life and this journey the last couple years. You have worked so hard for this moment. I love you so much.”
When she joined TODAY Friday live from Beijing, Kim said she’s loving the attention he’s now getting for sticking by her.
“I was actually laughing so had on the way here because my publicist sent me all the articles that were written about him,” she told Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb. “And I was like, ‘Whoa, Evan is having his moment right now.’ I am so happy for him.”
Kim gushed about Berle and how he’s paused his own education to help her achieve her Olympic dreams.
“He has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me, just so supportive, so loving,” she said. “He actually took a quarter off of school, his winter quarter off of school, to support me on this journey. (He) just knew that I was going to be going through a lot and struggling a bit and dealing with a lot of pressure. And so he just put himself on hold to support me, and it’s been amazing. I’m so grateful for him and I can’t wait to see him.”
Kim also made headlines after she asked if anyone had some food while talking to reporters following her gold medal performance. She said on TODAY that she ate breakfast around 6:30 a.m. and was running on fumes.
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“By the time everything was over, it was about noon, so that’s a pretty good amount of time to not go with food,” she said.
Kim’s stomach and heart both appear full, so it’s time for her to embrace the enormity of her accomplishment. She says she didn’t realize she would take home the gold medal after her performance.
“I didn’t, but I was so happy because I really struggled during practice and just landing my first run was just a huge relief,” she said.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
