Kiwi snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synott has reflected on her years of hard work after winning gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The 20-year-old became New Zealand's first ever Winter Olympics gold medallist after finishing in first place in the women’s slopestyle final in Beijing.
“Honestly, words can’t really describe but yeah, just super proud of how hard me and the team have worked over the last four years and to stand here with the gold medal around my neck feels pretty surreal,” she told Breakfast.
Sadowski-Synott had to beat American Julia Marino’s 87.68 to take home the gold on Sunday.
“Before I dropped, I knew that I had the run that would win gold,” she said. “After elbow-bumping with [coach Sean Thompson], I knew that it was all on.
"We’ve done this before, competed at the highest level and now it was time to put it down on the world stage so it was just pulling the trigger and letting it happen ‘cause I’ve trained to put that run down for a while so yeah, it’s just all about making it happen.”
READ MORE: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott wins NZ's first ever Winter Olympic gold
Sadowski-Synott said snowboarding is "the kind of sport where you’re always pushing your limits and facing your fears and that’s what makes it so special".
"I don’t think that will slow down any time soon but I just couldn’t be happier right now.”
Fellow competitors, American Julia Marino and Australian Tess Coady were ecstatic following the Kiwi's win despite being bumped down to silver and bronze, respectively.
Sadowski-Synnott said the sport is one of the only sports where you "cheer for each other when they do well even if you haven’t done well just ‘cause you’re so stoked to see snowboarding progress and see the direction it’s heading in".
“I would have been so stoked for Julia ‘cause that was the best run of her life and to see her put it down at the Olympics was super special and Tess is a good friend of mine as well and she’s had a bit of a battle to get back to the Olympics and to stand on those steps with those girls but pretty special.”
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