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Women to Watch in the 2018 Winter Olympics

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UK chapter.

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The whole world has been watching the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games that have been taking place this month. Team USA has a very strong group of athletes competing it the games, but the women for Team USA have recently been dominating the competition. Here are five of Team USA’s strongest and most talented female athletes to watch during this year’s games.

 

  • Jamie Anderson

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Anderson, 27,  competes as a snowboarder in the slope style event for Team USA. Recently, Anderson won the gold medal for her slope style event in PyeongChang, adding to her gold medal from the 2014 Sochi Olympics. At age 15, Anderson became the youngest medalist during the 2006 Winter X-Games. In her spare time, Anderson has a wide range of hobbies including mountain biking, hiking, yoga, paddle boarding and cooking.

 

 

  • Maia Shibutani

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Shibutani, 23, is a member of Team USA’s figure skating team where she competes alongside her brother as a pair. Shibutani fell in love with skating at age four because she attended so many ice skating birthday parties. During the 2011 figure skating national championship, Shibutani and her brother broke a record by becoming the first ever ice dancing team to medal in a debut performance. Shibutani recently graduated from the University of Michigan. Along with being an ice dancing champion, Shibutani creates vlogs for her successful YouTube channel she runs alongside her brother.

 

 

  • Chole Kim

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Kim, 17, is one of the youngest athletes competing on Team USA’s ski and snowboarding team in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Kim recently won the gold medal in the half pipe snowboarding event during these Olympic games. At age 13, Kim won her first X Games medal and became the first athlete in X Games history to win three gold medals by age 16.  Adding to her impressive resume, Kim plays the acoustic guitar and fluently speaks French, English and Korean.

 

  • Mikaela Shiffrin

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Shiffrin, 22, competes in the Alpine skiing races for Team USA where she just won her second gold medal in the PyeongChang Olympics. Shiffrin became the youngest athlete at age 18 to win an Olympic gold medal in slalom during the 2014 Sochi games. Shiffrin has a very close relationship with her mom, Eileen Shiffrin, who has coached her throughout her entire skiing career. In addition to skiing, Shiffrin plays tennis and soccer, and she considers herself a professional “cat napper.”

 

 

  • Mirai Nagasu

Photo by: Getty Images

 

Nagasu, 24, is a figure skater for Team USA, and she just won her first bronze medal in the team figure skating competition. Recently, Nagasu became the first American woman and the third woman in Olympic history to successfully land a triple axel. In her free time, Nagasu has many hobbies including skiing, golfing, dancing and playing with her three rescue dogs.

As junior at the University of Kentucky, I study Integrated Strategic Communication with a focus in Public Relations. I aspire to be a public relations professional for a healthcare facility that works to positively impact the lives of children, families and the community. My experience as a PR/Marketing intern at the UK International Center has helped me to gain valuable skills in creating promotional digital and print materials for an organization as well communicating to an organization's target audiences. My position as a Resident Advisor as also allowed me to grow my event planning, public communication and creative marketing skills. My top strengths include achiever, developer, futuristic, responsibility and learner.