Gretchen Bleiler
Snowboarding
2006 Olympic silver medalist
2010 Olympic hopeful
Personal Specs
Height: 5'5"
Short List Performance
- 2006 Olympic silver medalist
- Three-time X Games champion (2003, 2005, 2008)
- 2008 Winter Dew Tour Superpipe Champion
- Won more halfpipe competitions in 2003, 2005 and 2006 than any other female snowboarder
- U.S. snowboard Grand Prix champion (2006), U.S. Open snowboarding champion (2005) and a Triple Crown of Snowboarding champion (2002, 2003)
Vancouver Watch
Bleiler began her 2008 season strong, winning the opening Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix at Breckenridge, Colo., and in January. She solidified her status in halfpipe when she pulled out a spectacular run of front side 900 melon, back side air, crippler 540, fakey alley-oop, front side 720 and cab 720 to win her third X Games gold medal in 2008 at her home mountain.
Personal
After moving from Ohio to Aspen at age 10, she began skiing before switching to snowboarding four years later at age 14. After graduating from Aspen High School in June 1999, Gretchen chose not to go to college so she could travel and train for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. She joined U.S. Snowboarding in September 2000.
When she is not competing, she enjoys surfing, mountain biking, interior design and fashion. She is also active in several environmental organizations, including the Aspen Snowmass Save Snow campaign and stopglobalwarming.org
Did You Know...?
- Was the first female rider to perfect an inverted backside 540, known as the crippler
- Designed a 2008 Oakley's line called "The Gretchen Bleiler Collection"
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Writes a bi-monthly column for Transworld Snowboarding, "Truth or Dare," and was named female rider of the year in TWS's reader's choice survey in 2004