Just days before her third Winter Olympics, Chloe Kim tore her labrum in a scary fall that could have ended it all. But instead of support, online critics questioned and doubted her. But she didn’t let it get to her – A week later, she announced she was “good to go.” Now, just two days before the Games, she’s prepared not just to face the competition, but also the doubt.

As a daughter of Korean immigrants, Chloe has had to endure the pressure of high-level competition and as a young Asian-American athlete, prejudiced opinions. But Kim met that discrimination with defiance and resilience.

“I dealt with a lot of racism, like a lot of men who told me I wasn’t good enough,” Kim told ESPN Women. “A lot of people just didn’t believe in me. I had family members that told me I shouldn’t be doing this but never took that seriously. I refused to listen because I loved it so much.”

That determination is what drives Chloe Kim, not just to win Olympic medals, but to inspire young athletes, especially women of color. “I always want people to remember me as somebody you know I’m stubborn in the best ways; if I want something, I’m gonna get it and I’m gonna do it.”

Now, as Kim has set her sights on a third Olympic gold after dazzling the world in PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022. Speaking about her preparation for Milan-Cortina, she said:

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“I don’t know, I think I’m just gonna hear from the vibes at this point. I’m very confident in what I do and I know how much work I’ve put into the sport… Now I kinda just gotta go on cruise control and see what happens.”

For her, sports is about love for competition. “I’ve always been a competitive, feisty little girl… I thrive on competition, and I love the person I become when I’m in that competitive mode, and so being able to kind of like honor that through this really exciting, and that I’m excited.”

But that drive was tested early in her life when she first faced racism at the age of just 13.

The struggles that made Chloe Kim stronger than ever

After winning her first major medal, a silver at the 2014 X Games Aspen, Chloe Kim began getting racist messages. As she posted the picture of the medal on social media, many in the comments belittled her because of her identity.

Back then, she was so affected that she cried beside her mother, wondering “Why are people being so mean because I’m Asian?” as she later revealed. Even after becoming an Olympic champion in 2018, Chloe Kim continued to receive hundreds of racist messages, sometimes up to 30 per day.

Among the thousands of supportive messages, it was the hateful ones that cut the deepest, which is why Kim even switched off notifications and removed social media apps from her phone at times.

All that early criticism and hate took its toll on her psyche to the point where she stopped speaking Korean in public and felt “ashamed and hated that I was Asian.”

But it wasn’t just limited to online spaces, as Kim also revealed that she experienced mistreatment in public. Mistreatment that was exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic with the increase in anti-Asian rhetoric and beliefs in the United States.

“I was so ashamed and hated that I was Asian. I’ve learned to get over that feeling, and now I am so proud.”

Over time, Chloe Kim learned to transform that pain into strength. She took pride in her heritage, confronted the abuse publicly, and raised awareness against it.

That courage has made her stronger and enabled her to go to the Milan-Cortina Olympics not just as an Olympian, but also as inspiration and representation to young aspiring athletes.