Chloe Kim's dad has been instrumental to her career.
Jong Jin Kim was the one who first taught her how to snowboard at age 4, and when he realized that she had potential, he quit his job to travel with her and support her dream.
On Monday in PyeongChang, he stood at the bottom of the halfpipe with his homemade sign that simply said "Go Chloe!" with a heart on it, ready to cheer Kim on as she attempted to win her first Olympic gold medal.
Before the final, he texted Kim one quick phrase.
"Today is the day imugi turns to dragon," the text said, according to NBCOlympics.
Her reply:
"She said hahahahaha, thank you very much.”
Imugi is a lesser dragon before it turns into a full dragon, according to Korean mythology. It's like a tadpole, it hasn't fully formed yet.
“She was born in year of dragon,” Jong told NBCOlympics. “To be a dragon in Korean tradition is to wait 1,000 years. Before [you are] a simple snake, like an anaconda. But they wait about 1,000 years, and then they turn to dragon. Go to the sky, and they make a big dragon with a gold pearl. She’s got a gold pearl in her mouth. I texted her this morning that this is the time to be dragon.”
Her first run was spectacular, and it was good enough to win the gold medal with a score of 93.75. No one could pass her score on the second run, and she went into her final run with the gold already clinched.
She still improved her score to 98.25 despite how 'hangry' she was.
At 17, Kim is no longer an imugi. She's the youngest female to win an Olympic gold medal on snow.
She's a dragon.