Before last week, the Winter Olympics did absolutely nothing for me. I couldn’t understand why everyone got so worked up about watching athletes do the same monotonous task over and over and over. While cross country skiing requires an INSANE amount of athleticism, watching the live action simply didn’t keep my interest. And don’t even get me started on curling, which to me is like chess on ice. The most entertainment that I received from watching NBC came from the McDonald’s commercials—until I came across snowboarding.

It was a Tuesday night when replay of Sage Kotsenburg’s gold winning Olympic run just happened to be on and I couldn’t help but notice that the guy was chewing gum as he was competing. While the other snowboarders were undoubtedly dealing with unfathomable amounts of stress, Kotsenburg was chomping away (probably on a minty, fresh piece of Shaun White-endorsed Stride) looking shockingly calm and collected. I was speechless. Not only was he handling the stress that goes along with being an Olympian extremely well, but he was capable of racing down a bazillion-foot mountain without choking on a piece of Juicy Fruit. In my opinion, that accomplishment in itself deserved some type of medal. Kotsenburg did not go unrecognized for his achievement and secured one of the United States’ first gold for the 2014 Sochi Olympics…with a trick that he had never before practiced. Talk about confidence.

I’ve been inspired by the actions of other Olympic snowboarders as well:

• Mark McMorris
  • This 20 year old snowboarding Canadian managed to win a bronze medal in the slope-style event—with a broken rib. McMorris refused to give up on his Olympic dream despite encountering a severe injury taking place two weeks earlier at the Aspen, Colorado X Games. He told a reporter during qualifiers that motions like coughing and laughing were uncomfortable. I can’t imagine how a faceplant from 90-plus feet in the air would have felt.
• Shaun White
  • Although he failed to earn a third gold and defend his Olympic title, Shaun White nevertheless put on a great performance (his qualifying run earned the highest score of the entire event). He graciously accepted defeat and has even hinted about participating once again in the 2018. Plus, he earns brownie points for donating his snowboard to the Make a Wish Foundation afterwards.
• Jamie Anderson
  • Like Kotensburg, Anderson was also able to secure gold for the U.S. in women’s slope-style. I was doing a little creeping on the athlete profiles and came across some of her past injuries. Anderson suffered from a broken pelvis in January 2009 and from a ruptured spleen in March 2009. Ouch.

I had officially been converted into a Winter Olympics supporter. I’ve not only gained a whole new respect for snowboarding, but for the entire scope of winter sports that Sochi encompasses—even curling. And regardless of whether a competitor returns home with a medal or not, each is already a victor in my eyes. These Olympians weren’t given the opportunity to compete against the best athletes in the entire world—they earned it.