Kelly Clark is a five-time Olympian, Olympic gold medalist, and X Games legend, who championed equality in winter sports through launching the Kelly Clark Foundation, which removes financial barriers for young athletes.

“It is all about opportunity. I was never the most talented athlete; I just made the most out of what was given me. And seeing the girls have that opportunity is a win for me. Winning does not give you life, but creating opportunity does.”

Kelly Clark, interview with Conscious Magazine

From Early Passion to Olympic Gold Medalist

Kelly Clark (born July 26, 1983, in Newport, Rhode Island) discovered snowboarding at age seven during a family vacation. From that point on, she threw herself into the sport and quickly moved through the competitive ranks. She entered her first competition at age fourteen (Arganbright).

When snowboarding was officially added to the Olympic program in 1998, the sport shifted from a fringe, youth-driven activity to an internationally recognized athletic discipline. This opened new avenues for funding, coaching, and professional competition, transforming what had once been a distant dream into a concrete goal for young riders like Clark. For the first time, she could envision a real future in the sport. By 2000, she earned a spot on the U.S. Snowboard Team (Arganbright). That same year, she won her first FIS event at the Junior World Championships. Two years later, in 2002, she took home gold at the X Games and the U.S. Open, winning in both the halfpipe and quarterpipe, and became the overall U.S. Grand Prix champion. She also made history at the Salt Lake Winter Games when she became the first woman from Team USA to win Olympic gold in the halfpipe (Arganbright).

 Figure 1. Clark celebrates her halfpipe win with silver medalist Doriane Vidal of France and bronze medalist Fabienne Reuteler of Switzerland during the Olympic Winter Games Salt Lake City 2002. Image courtesy of Getty Image. 

Over her 18-year career, Clark competed in five Winter Olympics (Salt Lake City 2002, Turin 2006, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, and PyeongChang 2018) earning three medals along the way. She broke multiple records, including holding the most X Games medals for a woman. She also started in 19 consecutive Winter X Games, the longest streak in the event’s history. In 2002, she earned the ESPY Award for Action Sport Athlete of the Year. In 2011, she became the first woman to land a 1,080-degree spin in competition. Four years later, she received the ESPY for Best Female Action Sports Athlete (Team USA).

Founding the Kelly Clark Foundation

In 2010, Clark founded the Kelly Clark Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to “provide youth with the resources and opportunities they need to achieve their highest potential through snowboarding” (The Kelly Clark Foundation). The Foundation focused on three goals:

1. Making snowboarding more financially accessible

2. Increasing and diversifying participation in the snowboard industry

3. Expanding opportunities to use snowboarding as a tool for personal growth

To date, the Foundation has awarded over $100,000 in scholarships to reduce financial barriers for young athletes, including often-overlooked costs like lift tickets that can make consistent training difficult to afford. Reflecting on why she founded it, Clark shared:

“I have had a very successful snowboard career and one day I realized I wanted to make a bigger impact than just leaving good contest results… Snowboarding has given me so much, it has helped me develop into the person I am today, and I know given the opportunity it will do that for others,” (Schmookler, n.d.)

The Foundation’s Passport Program continues this mission by supporting nonprofits that work with underrepresented youth, providing lift tickets, equipment, transportation, and other essential resources. As she told Snowboard Magazine (2015), “I want to give back and invest in the next generation. I want to build something that will outlast my ability to compete.”

Ongoing Legacy 

Clark’s focus on community and generosity shaped much of her work off the podium. She continues to support youth programs as an ambassador for the Chill Foundation and through her instructional platform, Kelly Clark Snowboarding.

 Figure 2. Clark discusses being an ambassador for Chill and the founding of Kelly Clark Snowboard. 

After a 20-year career, during which she competed in nearly 200 events, earned 137 podiums, and claimed 78 wins, Clark retired from competition in January 2019 at Winter X Games Aspen (Burton, 2019). Today, her Foundation continues to expand access to snowboarding and promote gender equity across the sport.

Clark published her memoir Inspired in 2017. She described it as “an invitation… to enjoy these snapshots into my life, career, and pursuit of progress” (Kelly Clark Foundation). Her legacy ensures that the next generation of female snowboarders starts where she left off, not where she began.