Arielle Townsend Gold (born May 4, 1996) is an American Olympic medalist

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 ...

. In 2012, she won the gold medal in the

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

at the

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 ...

Junior Snowboarding World Championships, at the age of 15. The next year, she won the gold medal in the halfpipe at the

FIS Snowboarding World Championships 2013 The FIS Snowboarding World Championships 2013 were held between January 18 and January 27, 2013 at Stoneham Mountain Resort in Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury, Quebec. Results Men's events Women's events Medal table References External links *FI ...

, at the age of 16, becoming the second-youngest snowboarder to win a world championship. She won a bronze medal in the

superpipe A superpipe is a large halfpipe structure used in extreme sports such as snowboarding, freestyle skiing, skateboarding, scooters, freestyle BMX and vert skating. Overview For winter sports, the term ''superpipe'' is used to describe a half ...

at the 2013

Winter X Games XVII Winter X Games XVII (re-titled Winter X Games Aspen '13; styled as Winter X Games Seventeen in the official logo) were held from January 24 to January 27, 2013, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 12th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen ...

. In 2014, she was the youngest member of the US Sochi Winter Olympics halfpipe team, at the age of 17. She suffered a

separated shoulder A separated shoulder, also known as acromioclavicular joint injury, is a common injury to the acromioclavicular joint. The AC joint is located at the outer end of the clavicle where it attaches to the acromion of the scapula. Symptoms include no ...

right before the Olympics and was unable to compete. Competing for the US in 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 ...

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, she won a bronze medal in the women's halfpipe event. Her older brother is Olympian snowboarder

Taylor Gold Taylor Gold (born November 17, 1993) is an American Olympian snowboarder. He competes in the halfpipe. He is a two-time U.S. Revolution Tour champion, 2013 Copper Mountain Grand Prix/World Cup champion, 2014 Burton US Open champion, and 201 ...

Personal life

Gold is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and was born in

Steamboat Springs, Colorado The City of Steamboat Springs is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Routt County, Colorado, United States. Steamboat Springs is the principal city of the Steamboat Springs, CO Micropolitan Stat ...

. Her older brother is American Olympian

. She competed in rodeos and

horse jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes show ...

events before becoming involved in snowboarding. She lives in Steamboat Springs and attended Steamboat Springs High School. She later transferred to the Insight School of Colorado, a full-time online public

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

that allowed her to take her classes online. Gold studied psychology at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

. Her father Ken Gold, a former professional moguls skier would video each of her practices. The family moved to

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 ...

for five months every year to be closer to her competitions.

Snowboarding career

She learned to ski when she was three years old. Her older brother convinced her to switch to snowboarding when she was 7. She said: "Taylor made it look like so much fun". Their father said:

Taylor is, in many ways, responsible for Arielle’s success because he... told her: 'Look, most of the girls do things the way the other girls do. You need to do things the way the guys do. You need to grab your snowboard, you need to go big, you have style, you need to have aggression in your riding.'

She is a member of the

Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (SSWSC) is located in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. SSWSC has produced 88 Winter Olympians, including 14 sent to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Some of the more well-known Olympians including 6-time Olymp ...

. Her home mountain is

Mount Werner Mount Werner is a mountain summit in the Park Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The peak is located in Routt National Forest, east-southeast ( bearing 107°) of the City of Steamboat Springs in Routt County, Colorado, Unite ...

in the Park Range of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

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 ...

, four miles from Steamboat Springs. Gold began competing when she was eight years old.

2010–12: Junior World Champion

In 2010, she won the

Burton Burton, Burtons, or Burton's may refer to: Companies * Burton (retailer), a clothing retailer ** Burton's, Abergavenny, a shop built for the company in 1937 **The Montague Burton Building, Dublin a shop built for the company between 1929 and ...

US Open Junior Jam halfpipe contest. In 2011, she won a silver medal at the U.S. Revolution Tour, Copper Mountain, Colorado, United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA) National Championships. In 2012 at the

Winter Youth Olympic Games The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

in Innsbruck, Austria, she won silver medals in

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 disc ...

and

. She won the gold medal in halfpipe at the

Junior Snowboarding World Championships in the

Sierra Nevada (Spain) Sierra Nevada (; meaning "mountain range covered in snow") is a mountain range in the Andalusian province of Granada in Spain. It contains the highest point of continental Spain:The highest peak in Spanish territory is Teide on the island of Ten ...

at the age of 15. For 2012, she ranked 14th on the World Snowboard Tour.

2013: World Champion

She won the gold medal in the

at the

Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury is a united township municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec, located in the regional county municipality of La Jacques-Cartier north of Quebec City. Its main attraction is the Stoneham Mountain Resort. The large t ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, Canada, at the age of 16, the second-youngest ever to win a World Championship. Later that week after replacing the injured

Gretchen Bleiler 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 ...

, Gold won a bronze medal in the

at the

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mo ...

. She won the 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 purpo ...

, Switzerland, came in second in the 2013 Grand Prix 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 Cit ...

in February, and won the bronze medal at X Games Europe in

Tignes Tignes () is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, known for the highest skiable area and the longest ski season in Europe. It is located in the Savoie region with goo ...

, France. She ranked second on the 2013 World Snowboard Tour and also earned a place on the U.S. Snowboarding pro team.

2014: Olympian

Gold 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, and was considered a medal contender in the women's halfpipe. She was not able to compete in the qualification for the Olympic halfpipe finals, because of a separated right shoulder injury suffered on February 12, 2014, 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-circul ...

during a practice run and crashed at

Rosa Khutor Extreme Park The Rosa Khutor Extreme Park (''Russian'': Роза Хутор) under license from The Extreme Sports Company and part of the Extreme Hotel, Sochi development, is a skiing venue located west of the Rosa Khutor plateau in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. ...

Krasnaya Polyana Krasnaya Polyana (russian: Кра́сная Поля́на) meaning "Red Meadow" is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia: Modern localities Amur Oblast As of 2012, one rural locality in Amur Oblast bears this name: *Krasnaya Poly ...

, Russia, moments before the competition.

2015-17

In 2015 she finished second in the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix in Park City, Utah, third in the Burton US Open in Vail, Colorado, and fourth in 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, ...

in Aspen. In 2016 she won a silver medal in the X Games in Aspen, and a bronze medal in the X Games in Oslo, Norway. She was ranked 6th in the 2017 FIS World Cup Halfpipe Standings.

2018: Olympian

Competing for the United States in the

, South Korea, she won a bronze medal in the women's halfpipe event.

References

External links

* * * *
"Training and nutrition tips with US snowboarder Arielle Gold" (video)
''YOG News'', June 2, 2013
"Future Game Changer: Arielle Gold" (video)
''Sports Illustrated'', July 3, 2012
"Athlete Spotlight: Arielle Gold" (video)
Team USA, February 3, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Arielle Living people American female snowboarders 1996 births X Games athletes People from Steamboat Springs, Colorado Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Colorado Jewish American sportspeople People from Breckenridge, Colorado Snowboarders at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in snowboarding University of Colorado alumni 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women

Personal life

Snowboarding career

2010–12: Junior World Champion

2013: World Champion

2014: Olympian

2015-17

2018: Olympian

See also

References

External links