We’ve all made bad decisions. But my bad decisions have never resulted in a gold medal.
17-year-old Olympic snowboarder Red Gerard decided to have a low-key weekend in Pyeongchang ahead of his event on Sunday morning. He and his roommate, fellow snowboarder Kyle Mack, stayed up later than anticipated on Saturday night watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine. We’ve all been there.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV2T_mYnPtH/?taken-by=redgerard
When his 6am alarm went off the next morning, he slept right through it. 20-minutes later, Mack asked, “Red, you out of bed yet?”
Gerard jumped out of bed, scarfed down a breakfast sandwich, and was about to leave… But couldn’t find his puffy jacket. After a quick sweep of their room, Mack let Gerard borrow his jacket and then it was out the door.
Everything turned around at his event. He scored 87.16 out of 100 for his three snowboarding runs, earning him the gold.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfFEM-3H8EN/?taken-by=redgerard
Red’s gold was the first U.S. gold medal of the games and made him the youngest U.S. winter gold medalist in nearly a century.
If the Netflix-induced coma and lost jacket weren’t enough, his potty mouth kind of made matters worse (or better depending on how you look at the situation). After finishing his run and realizing how well he did, Gerard yelled “F*** Yeah!” on live television. Several news outlets missed the profanity and ended up airing it… multiple times.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfKeFNXn5AA/?taken-by=redgerard
Binge-watching Netflix, waking up late, losing his jacket, taking an avocado breakfast sandwich break, and screaming profanity on live television. That sounds like every single day in college.
Red Gerard, you’re a true american hero.
