12 Things to Know About Kelly Clark, Team USA Snowboarder

There's no other person in professional snowboarding who has won more than Kelly Clark — she is the sport's most decorated Olympic athlete. That haul: one Olympic gold medal from 2002, and two bronzes (from 2010 and 2014 respectively) as well as 14 X Games medals, five World Snowboard Tour titles, six U.S. Grand Prix titles, and eight U.S. Open titles. And now, sixteen years after her first big Olympic victory, she could become the oldest female to medal in snowboarding at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang — she's "chipping away" at a plan for the "dream run" she's hoping to debut at the Games.

Ahead of that hopefully dreams-come-true moment, here's what you need to know about Kelly.

1. She started snowboarding at age seven. She was already competing by the time she was 10.

2. And twenty-seven years later she's only sort of ready to think about retiring, even professionally, thanks very much. "I’m anticipating this being my last Olympics," she told Cosmopolitan.com, "but I feel like I still have potential as an athlete! I feel like I’m still getting better and learning things, and I’d like to hit my full potential this year. But I’ll always be a snowboarder."

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3. She's committed. When speaking about her parents' support, she told NBC Sports, "I had one year to prove to my parents that I could make snowboarding a career — that was the year I won the Olympics."

4. And she's "a pizza connoisseur." "My family owned a pizza restaurant growing up," Kelly told Cosmopolitan.com, "and in an alternate universe I would imagine that would be my profession." Her favorite toppings? Prosciutto and arugula; "you feel like you’re almost getting a salad and a pizza," she explains.

5. Her family bred Golden Retrievers. And she has a cute one named Iris who, of course, has her own Instagram account.

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6. Kelly is a devout Christian. "My faith is a huge part of my life, and my greatest source of inspiration," she explains. "Everything for me comes back to that... I compete for a living and it’s really easy to get lost in that mix. My faith grounds me and I think it helps me find a sense of significance outside of performing."

7. At the 2011 X Games, she became the first woman to ever land a 1080 (that's three full rotations while mid-jump) in a halfpipe run. It's now her signature move.

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8. She founded the Kelly Clark Foundation in 2010. It was established to "provide youth with the resources and opportunities they need to achieve their highest potential through snowboarding."

9. And mentoring is an increasingly important part of her life on and off the slopes. "I want to impact the culture of the sport in a positive way," she told Cosmopolitan.com, "[and] I want snowboarding to become better because I was a part of it. I’ve really embraced a mentor’s role with the younger women I compete with. That’s been rewarding — contributing to something that will be bigger than my competition results. I’ve found it more fulfilling to invest in others."

10. She's also written a book. Inspired: Pursuit of Progress dives into the hard work that went into her career and hopes to inspire readers to achieve their own goals.

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11. She plays the guitar. "It keeps me sane to have some sort of creative outlet when I travel," she told CNN in 2016. "I have a mini-Martin now, which sounds pretty good and it's little."

12. And her pop culture faves include Taylor Swift and Fixer Upper. Swift's album 1989 is "my go-to jam when I’m having a so-so day on the mountain." Kelly told Cosmopolitan.com. "I can put that on and then everything is all right in the world!"

Additional reporting by Eileen Reslen.