ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – American snowboarder Jamie Anderson reassured her supporters that she was alright after she failed to retain her gold medal in the women’s slopestyle competition at the Winter Olympics on Sunday.
“I just wanted to hop on here and let y’all know I’m okay, don’t worry,” Anderson said in an Instagram video after finishing ninth.
“I’m a little sad, of course, I wasn’t able to put down a run today,” the 31-year-old said in a hoarse voice, using an expletive to explain how genuinely happy she was for the medallists.
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand won gold in the event, taking the nation’s first-ever Winter Games gold medal.
“Zoi… slayed it on her last run and it was probably the best moment I’ve seen in snowboarding,” Anderson said, also praising fellow American Julia Marino, who took silver, and Australian Tess Coady, who won bronze.
Anderson won gold in Sochi in 2014 as well as in Pyeongchang four years ago. She admitted it was hard to lose her title but had only encouraging words for the younger riders.
“This whole next generation of snowboarding girls are so badass and I’m just so proud of all of you,” she said. “I’m proud to be here.”
(Reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Clare Fallon)
