Sage Kotsenburg (born July 27, 1993) is an American

snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

. He won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in men's snowboard

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 ...

at the

2014 Winter Olympic Games , ''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 ...

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 ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and became the first gold medalist at these Olympics. Kotsenburg won a silver medal in snowboard slopestyle at the 2012 Winter X Games XVI in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, behind

Mark McMorris Mark Lee McMorris (born December 9, 1993) is a Canadian professional snowboarder who specializes in slopestyle and big air events. A three-time Olympic bronze medallist, he placed third in each of the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics, ...

. Kotsenburg won a bronze medal in Snowboard Big Air at the 2011

Winter X Games XV Winter X Games XV (styled as Winter X Games Fifteen in the official logo) were held from January 26 to January 30, 2011, in Aspen, Colorado. They are the 10th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN. Sport ...

, behind

Torstein Horgmo Torstein Horgmo (born 18 February 1987) is a Norwegian professional snowboarder. Horgmo has competed, and medalled in, a variety of slopestyle and big air snowboarding competitions. He rides regular stance. Personal Horgmo grew up in Trondheim ...

and Sebastien Toutant.

Personal life

Kotsenburg was born in

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Coeur d'Alene ( ; french: Cœur d'Alène, lit=Heart of an stitching awl, Awl ) is a city and the county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the largest city in North Idaho and the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolita ...

, but grew up in

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...

. His parents are Carol Ann and Steve Kotsenburg. His father is a real estate agent. He has two older brothers, and a younger sister. Sage started snowboarding at the age of five with older brother, Blaze. The three younger siblings snowboard together. Their mother acts as Sage's travel agent. Kotsenburg was

homeschooled Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

via the Alpha Omega Academy. He graduated in 2011.

Career

Kotsenburg made his US Open debut at the age of 12. At age 16, he won the slopestyle silver at the European X Games 2010. He landed the first-ever Cab double cork 1440 at Air & Style in Innsbruck in February 2011, took third at the 2011 Arctic Challenge, and was named to the U.S. Snowboarding Slopestyle Pro Team in December 2011. He won the Winter X Games XVI Slopestyle silver in 2012. Kotsenburg won slopestyle gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, nailing one trick he had never tried before and performing an original grab he invented, the "Holy Crail". He was the first gold medalist of the Olympic Games as well as the first medal for the United States. During the summer, Kotsenburg trains on Mt. Hood at High Cascade Snowboard Camp. For summer 2014, Kotsenburg and his Lick the Cat crew have been awarded a Signature Session.Signature Sessions, 2014
High Cascade Snowboard Camp

References

External links

* *
US Snowboarding ProfileSochi Olympics profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotsenburg, Sage 1993 births Living people American male snowboarders X Games athletes Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in snowboarding Olympic medalists in snowboarding Sportspeople from Idaho People from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Sportspeople from Utah People from Park City, Utah 20th-century American people 21st-century American people