Olympia 2018: Anna Gasser:”It was all as if in a trance”.

Asked the Carinthian snowboarder Anna Gasser (26), who won the gold medal in the Big Air at the Olympic Games in Alpensia/Pyeongchang on Thursday:

Question: Silver was already certain before her last jump. How did you feel upstairs?

Anna Gasser:”I just said to myself, I don’t have so much to lose anymore, now I can only win. I got the silver medal. I knew if I made that last jump, it would be enough for gold. I answered it with the attitude. We have considered for a long time, should I do on security and try to improve the second. There I had got wind upwards, which had an effect on the expanse. Or should I take the plan we had from the beginning and take the risk for the last jump? And I’m so glad it worked out.”

Question: Your coach Christian Scheidl said that the decision for the trick was made seconds before they left.

Gasser:”Yes, Gigi also told me to listen to my gut feeling at the last one. And do what I feel like doing. The fact that I showed the other one and won with two tens makes the moment even more beautiful.”

Question: You have already won so much. Where do you put the Olympic victory in emotional order?

Gasser:”This is surely one of my biggest successes and greatest moments, because the level was so high, because I really had to give everything for it. Olympia is simply the biggest competition in sport. Olympic champion sounds good, I can get used to it. It’s madness. It’s quite a title.”

Question: And what is its significance?

Gasser:”A lot depends on how I drive and what the level was. And this was the highest level in Big Air so far. There’s never been two tens in a competition before, as this was the first time today, it’s the highest of my sporting achievements.”

Question: Did you expect the level to be so high?

Gasser:”I knew that, I felt it. I stood here as a favorite and knew there would be surprises. I knew the girls weren’t going to show everything in the competitions before that. That’s why it’s even nicer that it was enough and that the extra training and the absence of applications paid off because I could work on these tricks.”

Question: When did you realize it was gold?

Gasser:”It’s as if this jump hadn’t happened. It was like a trance. When I put it there, it took me a few seconds to realize it. But the moment I drove out downstairs, I knew from the feeling that it was enough to win. I was wondering why it takes so long for the points to come.”

Question: Does it make everything even more beautiful that parents and sisters are here?

Gasser:”Yes, I’m already happy when a little bit of peace comes in today, that I can embrace them and that we can enjoy these moments together.”

Question: What does it mean to you that you delivered like this? You had been traded as a gold tip for weeks?

Gasser:”The time before this big air finale was certainly one of the hardest in my life. We have been in Korea for three and a half weeks and all the excitement builds on this one day. And this pressure has also increased after slopestyle. Then the shifts and the wind. That was one of the hardest competitions I’ve ever raced in my mind.”

Question: You only started snowboarding when you were 18. Many people talk about the realization of a childhood dream after an Olympic victory. How’s that going with you?

Gasser:”When I started snowboarding, Big Air and Snowboard were not yet Olympic. My dream was to be a professional athlete. But it was not yet connected to Olympia. Two years later it was announced that Slopestyle is present. That’s when I thought it would be really cool if I could be there and win a medal. When Big Air joined what is now my specialty, the desire for a medal was already very great.”

Question: What do you advise young people who also want to live their dream?

Gasser:”I didn’t drop out of school, I graduated from high school. That was important to me and my parents. No matter how old you are, you can always follow your dreams, I would advise younger people to do the same. That makes life worth living. But, of course, also with a certain degree and purpose. I think you just have to manage it right.”