What Olympic Snowboarder Kelly Clark Has Been Up to Since Retiring in 2019
:extract_cover():upscale()/2022/02/09/939/n/1922729/tmp_h2Fbad_24da51d62a9d535c_GettyImages-469190485.jpg)
Olympic snowboarder Kelly Clark has had the kind of career most athletes can only dream of. After winning her first Olympic medal — a gold on the halfpipe — 20 years ago in Salt Lake City, Clark went on to win two consecutive bronze medals in the event in 2010 and 2014, along with 14 career X Games medals. She also became a symbol of longevity in the sport, inspiring and pushing athletes (like Olympic champ Chloe Kim) right up until announcing her retirement in 2019. So what is Clark doing now that her competitive days are over?
Unsurprisingly, Clark now spends her time helping young snowboarders achieve greatness themselves. In addition to offering online courses in snowboarding, Clark founded the Kelly Clark Foundation to help support the development of young athletes by removing the financial barriers that so often make snowboarding inaccessible. According to its mission statement, the nonprofit aims to "empower youth, using snowboarding as the medium for success." So far, the foundation has awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships to underserved youth.
Clark also wrote a book about her personal journey, faith, and Olympic career. The book, titled "Inspired," looks back at her life so far beyond the cameras. "What most people don't see, is that for every thirty seconds of my life put on display before hundreds of thousands of people, there are years of preparation behind the scenes. It's those years of hard work, motivation, and preparation that determine how these thirty seconds will go," Clark writes on her website. "The pages of this book are an invitation for you to come in and enjoy these snapshots in to my life, career, and pursuit of progress. I hope you are challenged and inspired to go on a journey of your own."
Most importantly of all, Clark is still snowboarding — not for medals now, but just for her. "I snowboard all the time," she told the official Olympics website. "I'm like a little kid. I still love it, probably just as much as day one, even though it's been over 30 years now."