David Wise (born June 30, 1990) is an American

freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...

. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2014, 2018) and a four-time

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

Gold Medalist (2012, 2013, 2014, 2018). In 2014, Wise won his third consecutive gold medal at

Winter X Games XVIII Winter X Games XVIII (re-titled Winter X Games Aspen '14; styled as Winter X Games Eighteen in the official logo) were held from January 23 to January 26, 2014, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 13th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. ...

in Aspen, Colorado, before heading to

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

for the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

. There, he became the first Olympic gold medalist in the Men's Freeski Halfpipe, which debuted in the Winter Games that year. In 2018, after struggling both personally and professionally since his win in Sochi, Wise won his fourth gold medal at the X Games just before he left for

PyeongChang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

to defend his Olympic title. After a sub-par qualifying competition that placed him in the fifth drop-in position for the finals, Wise failed to complete each of his first two runs due, in both cases, to a binding malfunction. On his third and final run, Wise completed a career-best run to take the gold medal, the second

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

of his career, with a score of 97.20.

Personal life

Wise grew up in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

. He started skiing at age three, learning at

Sky Tavern The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In th ...

just outside of Reno. He grew up skiing with his two sisters, Christy and Jessica, and his father, Thomas. In 2011, Wise joined his first freestyle ski team. In the early years, he also competed in moguls, aerials,

big air Big air is a high-injury-risk sports discipline where the competitor rides a vehicle, such as a motocross motorcycle, a skateboard, a snowboard, or a pair of skis, down a hill or ramp and performs aerial tricks after launching off very large jumps ...

, and

slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. The disci ...

under the direction of Clay Beck but eventually gravitated to the

halfpipe A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, skating, and scooter riding. Overview The structure resembles a cross-section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave ra ...

, one of many "new school" events he watched on TV at the

. In 2011, he married his girlfriend, Alexandra. The couple has two children: a daughter, Nayeli, and a son, Malachi. Wise is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. Wise has said, “Skiing for me has always been my act of worship to God, and as long it continues to be, I will keep on skiing. I don’t treat my sport as something that’s meant to glorify me; I try my best to treat it as something that brings glory to God. I worship the Creator by doing what I was created to do. He gave me the talent and continues to provide opportunities for me, so I’m going to go out there and use every one as an act of worship.”

References

External links

* * * * * * 1990 births Living people American male freestyle skiers X Games athletes Superpipe skiers Freestyle skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic freestyle skiers of the United States Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in freestyle skiing Olympic silver medalists for the United States in freestyle skiing Sportspeople from Nevada Sportspeople from Reno, Nevada American Christians {{US-freestyle-skiing-bio-stub