4444 TimeTime January 31/February 7, 2022January31/Febru
‘I felt a little lost. I was in
a pretty low, dark place.’
BEIJING
2022The alienation she felt was deepened by vitriol on social
media. After Kim won her first major medal, a halfpipe sil-
ver at the 2014 X Games, she posted a picture of the prize
on Insta gram. In her direct messages, Kim says, people told
her to go back to China and chastised her for taking med-
als away from white Americans on the team. She was 13.
“I ended up crying myself to sleep on the best night of my
life,” Kim says, recalling the memory while slinking into
her cushy white living- room couch. “At that point, you’re
like, ‘O.K., who can I turn to? Who has probably dealt with
this before?’ I would constantly look for anyone. But there
was no one.”
Kim would have competed for the U.S. team at the 2014
Winter Olympics were it not for the minimum age require-
ment of 15. Four years later in PyeongChang, she more than
made up for lost time. Kim landed her back-to-back 1080s
in her final run, even though she had already clinched gold.
The win cemented Kim’s celebrity in two countries, and the
crowds in South Korea mobbed her whenever she left the
Olympic Village. When the family went out, Kim’s parents
and two sisters huddled around her to protect her from pry-
ing eyes. The crush of sponsor and media obligations left
just one night to actually celebrate her win with her South
Korean relatives. “The night before leaving Korea, we all
gathered at our home, and Chloe’s grandmother got to try
on the medal,” says Kim’s mother Boran. “We each got to
try it on. So we celebrated in that way. But at that moment,
I think Chloe was going through a very hard time.”
Kim did enjoy some of the surreal trappings of fame. Mi-
chael Keaton texted her congratulations. “Thanks, Batman,”
she says now. McDormand said that winning an Oscar “is
what Chloe Kim must have felt like after doing back-to-back
1080s in the Olympic halfpipe.” At a packed afterparty for
the 2018 ESPY Awards, where Kim won Female Athlete of
the Year, the rapper G-Eazy handed her the mic and asked
her to rap Cardi B’s vocal section of his song “No Limit.” She
nailed it.
But as Kim returned to competition, she started to lose her
love of the sport. She says teammates (Kim won’t say who)
who resented her success began to bully her on social media.
She broke her ankle at the U.S. Open in March 2019. “I was
so burnt out, I just couldn’t do it anymore,” says Kim. “I felt
a little lost. I was in a pretty low, dark place.”
ItIt wwasas tImtImee for somforsomethingething new. Kimnew.Kim,, who had been homwhohadbe e-
schooledschooled while traveling the world for comwhiletravelingtheworldforcompetitipetitions, decided
toto take a break fromtakeabreakfrom snowboarding and go to college instead. snowboardingandgoto
SheShe enrolled at Princeton University in the fall of 2019. She She enrolled at Princeton University in the fall of 2019. She enrolledatPrincetonUniversityinth he
went,went, in part, to escape her celebrity. But famwent, in part, to escape her celebrity. But faminpart,toescapehercelebrity.B e was hard to e was hard to rdto
shake,shake, even on an Ivy League camshake, even on an Ivy League camevenonanIvyLeaguecampuspus that counts princes and pus that counts princes and ncesand
PresidentsPresidents amPresidents amamongong its alumong its alumitsalumni.ni. During her first night on camni. During her first night on camDurin htoncam---
pus,pus, Kimpus, Kimpus, KimKim attended an ice cream attended an ice cream attended an ice creamattendedanicecream social. “As I was leaving, the social. “As I was leaving, the social. “As I was leaving, the s sleaving,the
girlsgirls camgirls camcamee up to me up to muptome,e, they’re like, ‘Chloe, can we get a picture, e, they’re like, ‘Chloe, can we get a picture, they’relike egetapicture,
cancan we get a picture, can we get a picture?’ ” she says. “And can we get a picture, can we get a picture?’ ” she says. “And wegetapicture,canweg ”shesays.“A n d
II was like, ‘I don’t want to be here as the snowboarder. I want I was like, ‘I don’t want to be here as the snowboarder. I want waslike,‘Idon’twanttobeh owboarder.Iwant
toto be here as a student. I want to be like everyone else. I want to be here as a student. I want to be like everyone else. I want behereasastudent.Iwan veryoneelse.Iwant
toto be normbenormal.’al.’ That’s why I camThat’swhyI e here. And I was like, ‘No, AndIwaslike,‘No,
youyou can’t get a photo with myou can’t get a photo with mcan’tgetaphotowith e. I don’t want this to be a thing, e. I don’t want this to be a thing, wantthistobeathing,
because it’s going to make me uncomfortable.’
And immediately after that, everyone was like,
‘Oh, she’s such a bitch. Blah blah blah.’ ”
Kim immediately had regrets. “She’d call us
and say, ‘Mom, people are staring at me and I
feel so uncomfortable,’ ” says Boran. “She’d call
crying.” Kim began to avoid the dining halls and
other common areas—the very places where
friendships are formed. “We were eating off
campus a lot,” says Christian Pollard, a junior
prempremprempremprempremed student who didn’t know who Kimed student who didn’t know who Kimed student who didn’t know who Kimed student who didn’t know who Kimed student who didn’t know who Kimd did’tknowwhoKim was was was was was was
when they mwhen they met as first-year students. “She didn’t et as first-year students. “She didn’t “Shedidn’t
want to put herself in that space.”
KimKim says she asked that her dorm says she asked that her dorm and room and room
numnumnumber be taken off Tigerbook, a directory ber be taken off Tigerbook, a directory ber be taken off Tigerbook, a directory taken
thatthat listed students’ addresses on camthat listed students’ addresses on camthat listed students’ addresses on camlistedstudents’ addresses pus. pus. pus.
“I’ve“I’ve had mhadmyy fair share of stalker issues,” Kimfairshareofstalkerissues,
says.says. Tigerbook remsays. Tigerbook remTigerbookremovedoved addresses for all stu-oved addresses for all stu-addressesforallst
dents, citing university privacy restrictions.
Kim says she heard classmates blaming her
for the policy change. “Every time I did some-
thing for myself,” Kim says, “it ended up being
a whole issue.”
Things improved as the semester wore on and