Taylor Gold (born November 17, 1993) is an American Olympian

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 Paralympic ...

. He competes in the

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

. He is a two-time U.S. Revolution Tour champion, 2013 Copper Mountain Grand Prix/World Cup champion, 2014 Burton US Open champion, and 2014 Red Bull Double Pipe champion. He is also a

Mammoth Mountain Mammoth Mountain is a lava dome complex partially located within the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, in the Inyo National Forest of Madera and Mono Counties. It is home to a large ski area primarily on the Mono County side. Mammoth Mount ...

U.S. Grand Prix silver medalist (2013–14), 2011

FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a Se ...

Junior World Championships silver medalist, and 2013 Breckenridge Dew Tour iON Mountain bronze medalist. He competed for the United States in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and in the 2022 Winter Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. His younger sister is American Olympic bronze medalist and World Champion snowboarder Arielle Gold.

Personal life

Gold is Jewish, and was born in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. His father, Ken Gold, who was a professional moguls skier, videotapes each of his practices. His younger sister is American Olympic bronze medalist and World Champion

Arielle Gold. He and his family live part of the year in Steamboat Springs and part in

Breckenridge, Colorado The Town of Breckenridge is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Summit County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,078 at the 2020 United States Census. Breckenridge is the pr ...

Snowboarding career

Early years

Gold became interested in competitive snowboarding after watching the sport during 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 ...

. He trained at the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and began competing at the age of nine. His home mountain is Steamboat. He is coached by Mike Jankowski, Spencer Tamblyn, and Ashley Berger.

2011–12: Junior World Championships silver medalist

He was on the 2011

World Championships team in Spain and earned a gold medal in halfpipe at the 2011 FIS Junior World Championships in Valmalenco, Italy. He won in halfpipe at the 2011 U.S. Revolution Tour, in Mount Hood, Oregon, and at the United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA) National Championships. For most of 2012, he was sidelined with a bruised heel injury.

2013–14: Olympian

In 2013, Gold won the halfpipe competition in the U.S. Revolution Tour/US Open Qualifiers in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, and placed sixth in halfpipe at the Burton U.S. Open in

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the numer ...

, Colorado. He also took second in halfpipe at the 2013 USASA Nationals in

Copper Mountain, Colorado Copper Mountain is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Summit County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Breckenridge, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population of t ...

, and came in ninth in halfpipe in the 2013 Burton European Open in

Laax Laax ( rm, Lags) is a municipality in the Surselva Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. History Laax is first mentioned c. 1290–98 as ''Lags''. Geography Laax has an area, , of . Of this area, 35.8% is used for agricultural pur ...

, Switzerland. He ranked 11th in the World Snowboard Tour standings in 2012–13 and was 5th in the world among men in reaching snowboard finals. He was also the 2013 Copper Mountain Grand Prix/World Cup champion, earned a silver medal in the

U.S. Grand Prix superpipe, and earned a bronze medal in the 2013 Breckenridge Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships. Gold competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park in Sochi, Russia, in the halfpipe competition, after becoming the first snowboarder to qualify for the men's USA Team. On February 11, 2014, at the Olympics Gold almost went to the finals of the snowboard halfpipe. But, on the end of his second run in a two-round semi-final, he tried one last trick but ran out of halfpipe and fell. He was one of the first two athletes to compete at a Summer or Winter Olympics with the surname "Gold." His sister was the youngest member of the US

2014 Sochi 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 ...

halfpipe team at the age of 17. But she was not able to compete in the qualification for the Olympic halfpipe finals, because of a separated right shoulder injury she suffered on February 12 when she caught an edge at the end of the

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

during a practice run and crashed moments before her competition. Not long after returning from Sochi, Gold won first place in the 32nd annual 2014 Burton US Open half-pipe competition in Vail and the Red Bull Double Pipe over second-place 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Taku Hiraoka of Japan.

2015–present

In early 2015, Gold had his first Dew Tour win. He suffered a knee injury that included a broken

kneecap The patella, also known as the kneecap, is a flat, rounded triangular bone which articulates with the femur (thigh bone) and covers and protects the anterior articular surface of the knee joint. The patella is found in many tetrapods, such as m ...

, which kept him from competing in the 2015-16 season. Gold won a bronze medal in SBD SuperPipe at the

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, ...

Aspen in 2017. He had to sit out the 2017-18 season due to surgery that he had for two different injuries.">"Olympic cheat sheet: Meet Steamboat’s 2018 Olympians and find out when they’re on TV" , SteamboatToday.com
/ref> In 2022, Gold competed in the men's halfpipe at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, placing in 5th.

References

External links

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"Watch Taylor Gold's Victorious US Open Halfpipe Run" (video)
Fox Sports, March 8, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Taylor 1993 births Living people American male snowboarders Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic snowboarders of the United States People from Steamboat Springs, Colorado Sportspeople from Colorado Jewish American sportspeople People from Breckenridge, Colorado 21st-century American Jews