Callan Chythlook-Sifsof (born February 14, 1989) 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 Paralympic ...
who has competed in snowboard cross since 2005. In 2006, she was invited to her first Winter X Games competition and won a
silver medal in 2011. She won the U.S. National Championships in Tamarack, Idaho in 2007. In 2008 she won the Jeep King of the Mountain World snowboard series in Sun Valley. Her best World Cup finishes were 2nd place in Furano, Japan in 2006 and 2nd place in Arosa, Switzerland in 2011.
It was announced on January 26, 2010, that Chythlook-Sifsof made the
2010 Winter Olympic Team. She placed 21st in the
qualifying round
Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to:
* Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...
and did not advance.
In February 2014, during the
2014 Winter Olympics, in
Sochi,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, for which she was not selected, she
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
publicly as
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
, saying she did so in support of ongoing
Olympic protests of Russian anti-gay laws
During the lead-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics, protests and campaigns arose surrounding the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia.
Concerns for LGBT athletes and supporters during the Games began as early as M ...
.
[U.S. SNOWBOARDER CALLAN CHYTHLOOK-SIFSOF: I'M GAY]
/ref> "It's important to come out and take a stand and show the world that it's not OK to be a bigot."Chuck Grassley
Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore emeritus of the United States Senate, and the senior United States senator from Iowa, having held the seat since 1981. In 2022, h ...
(R-Iowa) accused U.S. Ski & Snowboard of interfering with a United States Center for SafeSport
The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2017 under the auspices of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. SafeSport is tasked with ad ...
investigation into charges by three former athletes and a former U.S. Ski & Snowboard employee against head coach Peter Foley, who coached the team from its 1994 inception.[https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/grassley_to_us.skisnowboardsafesportinvestigation.pdf ] Foley denied the charges.
References
External links
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Callan Chythlook-Sifsof
at U.S. Snowboarding
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1989 births
American female snowboarders
Inupiat people
Lesbian sportswomen
LGBT Native Americans
LGBT people from Alaska
American LGBT sportspeople
LGBT snowboarders
Living people
Olympic snowboarders of the United States
People from Dillingham Census Area, Alaska
Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Sportspeople from Anchorage, Alaska
Yupik people
X Games athletes
2014 Winter Olympics
21st-century LGBT people
21st-century American women
Indigenous sportspeople of the Americas
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