Kauai Olympian

Quick before the games are finished in Turin, I have to pass on the Kauai connection to the winter Olympics.

Elena Hight snowboarding on a big red snowpark terrain feature that looks like a cement pipe, in a place with ski lifts
Source: volcom.com (why not vol.com?)

At 16 years old, the youngest member of the US snowboarding team is Elena Hight [not sure of the pronunciation on that]. According to the Garden Island newspaper, she was born on Kauai and lived here until the age of 7. I imagine she surfed here, though the story only says she was snowboarding at the age of 6, on the mainland it must be assumed. Her family moved to Lake Tahoe, California’s ski mecca, and she became one of those fearless daredevil kids on the slopes.

It all paid off because she finished sixth overall in the women’s halfpipe finals. Congratulation, Elena. I hope our (3 month-old) daughter learns to surf and ride half as good as you can.

Elena’s (outdated) bio and photo are on the US snowboarding team website. I also found a kidzworld interview with her, though I must warn you of all the pop-ups trying to sell things to your kids. Here’s a shorter interview with more photos and no pop-ups on the Volcom website, a surfwear manufacturer and sponsor (isn’t that redundant).

Errata: With the time difference and late-night posting, it seems like I missed the closing ceremony of the games by 24hrs.

Printed from: http://great-hikes.com/blog/kauai-olympian/.
© 2024.

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