Kim Jin-Hee was watching the womens ski pipe contest with her friends on the skiers right wall. Her friends mentioned that they had gotten quite an early start on the cocktails, and weren't even sure if Kim had ever actually slept after the previous night of partying.
In between runs Kim climbed over the safety fence separating the spectators from the pipe, and attempted to take a selfie. She stepped back too far and slid into the icy pipe. The slick material on her down jacket and snow pants allowed her to pick up speed as she careened toward the left wall. "It happened so fast. I didn't even have time to react before I was flying down the pipe" As she hit the wall, she came out of the pipe a full meter, her friends watching in horror. She landed smooth near the top of the transition and started blasting toward the next wall. Fearing for her life she tried to dig her boot in. It wouldn't grab. Then right near the top of the wall it finally did, sending her into a cork 5 nearly 2 meters out of the pipe! The crowd began to cheer! Many began to believe she was simply another rider in the competition.
The announcers started to call her run, referring to her as "An unknown Korean athlete" The roar of the ground grew deafening on her 3rd wall as the Korean flag she had clutched in her hand waved valiantly in the breeze.
She still had one more wall to go, but opted to drag her feet coming in switch and at the last minute sent a big surfy turn at the top of the wall in text book fashion.
"She should be proud of that run, but I think even she knew this wasn't going to be quite enough to get her to finals"
As she slid into the finish corral the roar of the crowd grew again. One of the other athletes helped her up, and before she knew what was happening, there was a camera in her face waiting for the score. The judges took a bit of time weighing the difficulty of her somewhat unconventional run, but eventually came back with a score of 58.0. Not enough to qualify, but a very strong showing for the Korean.
It wasn't until the closing runs of the qualifiers that word of the woman's actual identity reached the announcers. In a sheepish voice, the announcer defended himself on the mix up. "With runs like Swany's being part of this Olympics, it was almost impossible to tell what was part of the contest, and what wasn't. We just assumed that with the amplitude she was getting, she must have been part of the competition"
Kim can feel proud knowing that even though she failed to qualify for finals, she managed to put down a solid run that helped to progress the sport, whether or not she remembers any of it.
She may not have meant it, she probably won't remember it, but her run is something ourselves and everyone she inspired will not soon forget.
2018 Getty Images
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