And paradoxically, the rider known for her relaxed attitude began pushing the sport. Her passion for the sport and love of the outdoors kept her motivated. I definitely took a lot away from that and have been working on making sure that I don’t do that again.” “I actually fell on a couple stock tricks. “It was kind of a heartbreaker,” she said. 14, 2005 atīreckenridge Ski Resort in Breckenridge, Colo. The only metal she took away from the Games was another Olympic ring.Įlena Hight picks up some air over the halfpipe during theĬhevrolet U.S. But on a cold night - after a warm afternoon of qualification runs that left the halfpipe rutted and “wavy” - she fell on both runs in the finals. Hight hoped to seize the day at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. “It’s one of the quotes I live by,” she said. She also wears a ring that says “Carpe Diem,” the Latin phrase for “seize the day” made famous by Robin Williams in the 1989 movie, “Dead Poets Society.” Hanging round her neck is a Drusy quartz crystal, thought to dissipate negative thoughts and emotions. She wears it on a finger next to a ring with a frog - a family heirloom, she said. In 2006, at age 16, she made her first Olympic team and finished sixth under a sparkling blue sky in Torino.Ī silver Olympic ring became part of her jewelry. “Taking those steps to try new tricks and do things that have never been done is where I get the fun from snowboarding.”īefore she was licensed to drive, Hight regularly made the finals of big snowboarding events and was landing on U.S. “My outlook on snowboarding has always been about pushing my own limits and really trying to see what’s possible for me,” she said. When she was 13, she became the first female to land a 900 (two-and-a-half revolutions) in competition. Two years later, she began competing in local events. Her family moved to Idaho, then South Lake Tahoe, Calif., when Elena was 6, and she quickly learned to snowboard. Born on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, baby Elena was tandem surfing with her dad, Mike, shortly after she learned to walk. Hight’s snowboarding career actually began on a surfboard. “What I think the judges want is definitely coming secondary to what I want to get out of snowboarding.” “At the end of the day, I snowboard for me and for the joy and the passion that I get out of it,” she said. Now with her backside double cork, she aims to add her name to that elite list.īut for the petite Hight (she’s only 5’1”), it’s not so much about beating her competition as it is progressing the sport and pushing herself. In the past eight years, Hight, 24, has often been overshadowed by her Olympic medal-winning teammates, like Clark, Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler. The next rider to drop into the ‘pipe at the X Games, two-time Olympic medalist Kelly Clark, watched Hight’s entire run and “had about 10 seconds of ‘that was amazing.’” It was, as the ESPN announcers said, a historical moment. Only two other snowboarders, Shaun White and Danny Davis, had reportedly landed the same trick. Or in simpler vernacular, a double cork.Īlthough many men have performed double corks in the ‘pipe, none had taken off while facing uphill (the “backside” part of the trick). In the women’s snowboarding superpipe, Hight completed a double backside alley-oop rodeo. Promotional shoot on Apin West Hollywood, Calif.Īt the 2013 Winter X Games, Elena Hight did what no snowboarder - male or female - had ever done in competition.
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