Saratogan Grizelda Gonzalez hopes to ride her recent success to Japan, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics.
By Torre Peña
Emerging as one of the top snowboarders in the U.S. last winter, Saratogan Grizelda Gonzalez hopes to ride her recent success to Japan, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics.
This winter Gonzalez will compete in the freestyle snowboarding World Championships for the U.S. Women's Snowboard Team and then for a spot on the Olympic team.
"I have a really good chance to make the team because I have beat every girl on the tour now," she said.
Catching as much as six feet of air and performing aerial spin moves, Gonzalez is judged for her ability to navigate a half-pipe, similar to a skateboarding ramp but with snow, and perform stunts on her board. Last year Gonzalez tore onto the international scene when she placed fifth among the world's best at a World Cup event. She secured a position for this year's U.S. team and will be packing her bags in November for Austria and then British Columbia to compete for prize money.
One of the youngest members of the U.S. team, the 20-year-old graduate of Saratoga High School is taking time off from the University of Utah to train. A biology major, Gonzalez says that her plans to attend medical school can wait while she pursues her dream of competing in the Olympics.
Over the summer Gonzalez trained with the U.S. team in Pennsylvania, honing her skills. "We did gymnastics--that was our whole purpose to be there, to increase aerial awareness," says Gonzalez. "It helped build up my confidence, and I got into shape because the coaches work you pretty hard."
Gonzalez, who took up skiing when she was 18 months old, decided to try snowboarding with a friend in junior high. "We were skiing during Christmas break, and we noticed the snowboards and said, 'Gosh, there's no girls doing it,' so we rented one."
Her friend broke her wrist that day, but Gonzalez was hooked and soon began taking the train up to Tahoe to snowboard on weekends. She placed second in her first freestyle competition and never looked back.
This January at the Olympic snow board trials in Aspen, Gonzalez will take a step toward fulfilling her Olympic dreams.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 9, 1996.
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