Advertisement

Winter Olympics: Ester Ledecka first woman to win two golds in different sports at one Games

 
Gold medal winner Ester Ledecka, of the Czech Republic, runs the course during the women's parallel giant slalom final at Phoenix Snow Park at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) OLYSB195
Gold medal winner Ester Ledecka, of the Czech Republic, runs the course during the women's parallel giant slalom final at Phoenix Snow Park at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) OLYSB195
Published Feb. 24, 2018

BONGPYEONG, South Korea — Don't ask Ester Ledecka if she is the best athlete at the Olympics. She'll stare through her polarized goggles and recoil at what she considers a preposterous notion.

"Uh, what?" she responded Saturday.

No, seriously.

"I don't think so, no," she insisted. "There are the greatest athletes in the world here."

And the greatest athletes in the world now gush over Ledecka, a 22-year-old Czech who became the first woman and third athlete overall to win two gold medals in different sports at one Games with her victory in snowboarding's parallel giant slalom.

That gold goes with the one she got for her surprise victory in Alpine skiing's super-G seven days earlier.

She must be the greatest athlete at these Games, right?

"Yeah, whatever," Ledecka said.

And then she walked away.

She came into the Olympics a two-time world snowboarding champion but was never considered a threat in skiing. She'll leave as the first to win gold medals in both sports.

She outraced Selina Joerg of Germany to the line in the snowboard final and won by .46 seconds, a much more comfortable margin than the .01-second edge in the super-G race that left her staring at the clock in shock, wondering if someone had made a mistake.

She has dreamed about this since she was 5. Her lifelong aspiration wasn't simply to go to the Olympics. It was to do it her way — to compete in multiple sports, to win multiple golds — and the more she heard people say she couldn't do it, the worse a listener she became.

In an era of sports specialization, Ledecka has been an evangelist for maintaining variety. She didn't want to hear about what was impossible. She just needed to know how difficult it would be, and then she could figure out the training and discipline the task required.

Justin Reiter is Ledecka's snowboarding coach. He is an American who competed for the United States at the Olympics four years ago. Coaching Ledecka has redefined his beliefs about many things.

"I always doubted the ability to do both," he said. "But I think it was a big deal for us this year to stop the fighting of trying to pull her toward one direction and saying, 'Hey, let's just do what you want.' "

Spend a lifetime hearing about what you can't do, and you're left with two ways to react: Submit to the doubt or erase it.

"There were so many of them who tell me this is not possible," Ledecka said. "And (Saturday) I proved it possible."