Gretchen Elisabeth Bleiler (born April 10, 1981) is an American former professional halfpipe snowboarder. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Olympics.

Career

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Bleiler aspired to compete in the Winter X Games from a very young age, and found her passion in snowboarding at age 11 (1992). She has been riding ever since and became professional in 1996. Among her accomplishments, she jump-started the invert revolution for female riders as the first to land a

Crippler 540 Crippler or Cripplers may refer to: * Any disease such as Poliomyelitis with a disabling effect * cripplers, small bore guns excluded from grouse shooting * Horse Crippler cactus, '' Echinocactus texensis'' * Crippler (comics), a fictional charac ...

in competition, and won more halfpipe competitions in 2003, 2005 and 2006 than any other female snowboarder.Gretchen Bleiler
, aspensnowmass.com In the pre-Olympic season she won four of the five US Olympic halfpipe qualifiers and is also a four-time X Games gold medalist, most recently winning the superpipe at Winter X Games XIV. In 2003, she was a U.S. snowboard Grand Prix champion, a U.S. Open of snowboarding champion, and a

Triple Crown of Snowboarding Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a "treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * In ...

champion.whatever it takes to bring home something shiny
, 24hourfitness.com She posed for the February 2004 issue of '' FHM'', along with fellow snowboarder

Tara Dakides Tara Dakides (born August 20, 1975) is an American snowboarder and co-owner of O-matic Snowboards. She was born in Mission Viejo, California, and has snowboarded since she was 13 years old. She now resides in Mammoth Lakes, California. Career A ...

and sportscaster Jamie Little. Bleiler, who missed qualifying for the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

due to a tiebreaker, won a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the women's halfpipe at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

in Turin, Italy. Starting in 2007, Bleiler expanded her career into snowboard and outerwear design, through Oakley and K2 Snowboarding, designing her own signature outerwear line for Oakley, and participating in the K2 Alliance, which develops and tests women's products, as well as working on the graphics for several K2 Boards. In 2008, she helped to create a new all-female invitational superpipe competition at

Snowmass Snowmass may refer to: *Snowmass Village, Colorado, a town in Pitkin County, Colorado, U.S. **Snowmass (ski area) ** Snowmastodon site, an archaeological excavation near the town where well-preserved fossils of mammoths, mastodons, and plants were ...

called the Snow Angels Invitational.Gretchen Bleiler Interview
shredbetties.com While competing in the

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

, many considered Bleiler a gold medal favorite. However, she fell on both of her final runs, and took 11th place. During the summer, Gretchen Bleiler coaches and mentors youth at High Cascade Snowboard Camp. In 2008, 2010, and 2014 she was awarded a Signature Session at High Cascade. Bleiler announced her retirement in January 2014 after being injured in a 2012 training accident and failing to make 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 ...

team. She is currently pursuing speaking, writing, teaching, activism and being an entrepreneur; she is an owner o
ALEX
Bottle (which stands for "Always Live EXtraordinarily") with her husband Chris.

Career highlights

*2010 X Games Superpipe Gold Medalist *2008 Winter Dew Tour Superpipe Champion (Breckenridge, Co) *2008 X Games Halfpipe Gold Medalist *2006 FIS World Cup 1st Place, Saas Fe, Switzerland *2006 Olympic silver medalist *2006 Overall Grand Prix Champion; won four of the five Grand Prix events determining Olympic team *2005 X Games and Gravity Games Gold Medalist *2005 US Open Halfpipe Champion *FIS World Cup 1st Place, Bardonecchia, Italy *Eight straight wins in 2003 *2003 X Games Halfpipe Gold Medalist *2003 US Open Champion *Won 2003 Overall Grand Prix Title *One of only four females invited to coveted 2003 Arctic Challenge * 2002 and 2003 Vans Triple Crown Overall Title Winner *Won 2003 World SuperPipe Championships

Awards

* Voted 2006 Female Snowboarder of the Year at FUEL TV's inaugural Action Sports Awards * Nominated for 2006 ESPY Award * Won 2004 Colorado Female Athlete of the Year Award * Earned

Transworld Snowboarding's Reader's Choice Award Trans World or Transworld may refer to: Companies * Trans World Airlines (TWA) ** Trans World Connection, a affiliated brand name of the airline ** Trans World Corporation, a holding company for the airline ** Trans World Express, a regional carrie ...

in 2004 * Nominated for 2004 Laureus "Female Action Sports Athlete" Award * Named Snowboarder and Transworld Snowboarding 2003 "Female Rider of the Year" * Nominated for 2009 Teen Choice Awards "Other Action Sports Athlete – Female"

Quotes

* "You don’t wake up and say: 'Today I’m going to be more creative. You do the things you love to do and try to get at their essence and allow things to emerge.'"

Personal life

Bleiler enjoys surfing, mountain biking, interior design and fashion. She is also active in several environmental organizations, including the Aspen Snomass Save Snow campaign, and stopglobalwarming.org. She lives in Aspen, Colorado and is married to Chris Hotell.Profile
nbcolympics.com

References

External links

* * * * *
Gretchen Bleiler interview in frequency:The Snowboarder's JournalGretchen's Official Website
... with links to photo galleries, features
Biography and interview at offthepodium.comGretchen Bleiler on Go211.com
Exclusive photos, videos and blogs submitted by Gretchen.
Gretchen Bleiler Launches Signature Sports and Casual Apparel LineGretchen Bleiler Signature Session at High Cascade Snowboard Camp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleiler, Gretchen American female snowboarders 1981 births Living people Snowboarders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in snowboarding Sportspeople from Aspen, Colorado X Games athletes Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Toledo, Ohio 21st-century American women