Zoe Gillings-Brier ( Gillings, born 14 June 1985) is a Manx and British snowboarder. She won seven medals at the FIS World Cup including one gold. Gillings competed at the 2006,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 2014, and the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

making her the only British snowboarder to compete in 4 Olympics.

Career

Gillings was born in the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

and began snowboarding at the age of 10, after switching from

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ...

. She competes in

snowboard cross Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...

, and has won seven medals at the

FIS Snowboard World Cup The FIS Snowboard World Cup is an annual snowboarding competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1994. Since its inauguration, different disciplines have been added and removed, along with categories used to group them ...

. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Gillings finished 15th in the first ever women's snowboard cross event. In the 2007/08 season, her best results were 6th 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, ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, 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 wes ...

, US, 4th in the Korean (Sungwoo) FIS World Cup final, and 2nd in the Japan (Gugi-Gifu) FIS World Cup snowboardcross final. She was awarded British Olympic Association Athlete of the Year (Snowsport) 2007/08. In the 2008/09 season, she finished 3rd in the FIS World Cup meetings in

Valmalenco Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; rm, Vuclina (); lmo, Valtelina or ; german: Veltlin; it, Valtellina) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. To ...

, Italy and

Bad Gastein Bad Gastein (; formerly ''Badgastein''; Southern Bavarian: ''Bod Goschdei'') is a spa town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it ...

, Austria, and won the German National Championships. She was awarded the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...

Athlete of the Year (Snow sport) for the second successive year. At the

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 Doan Nancy GreeneWayne Gr ...

, Gillings finished 8th in the women's event. In 2010/11, she finished 3rd in a World Cup meeting in

Arosa , neighboring_municipalities= Alvaneu, Davos, Langwies, Lantsch/Lenz, Molinis, Peist, Schmitten, Tschiertschen, Vaz/Obervaz, Wiesen , twintowns = Fukumitsu (Japan) Arosa is a town and a municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton ...

, Switzerland, and in 2011/12, she finished 3rd in the boarder-cross World Cup event in Valmalenco. At the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...

, Gillings finished 9th in the women's event; she missed out on the final on a

photo finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the finis ...

. After the Games, Gillings lost her Olympic funding. Gillings-Brier has been selected for the

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 S ...

, South Korea, making her the first British snowboarder to compete at four Winter Olympics.

Personal life

Gillings 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 ...

. Gillings married her coach Dan Brier in August 2014, after which she changed her surname to Gillings-Brier. In August 2016, the couple had their first child.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillings, Zoe 1985 births Living people Manx snowboarders Manx sportswomen British female snowboarders Snowboarders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic snowboarders of Great Britain Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Olympics