Beijing Olympics spotlight - Chloe Kim is a superstar, but that hasn’t been easy

It is easy to get over excited when an athlete bursts onto the scene, particularly when they look like they are once-in-a-generation talents. But we often forget the mental toll that can have on people who have no experience of fame or an abnormal life — and Chloe Kim has been open about how global recognition has affected her. The American snowboarder is a huge star and she will go to Beijing 2022 as the overwhelming favourite to win halfpipe gold, retaining the title which catapulted her worldwide fame when she topped the podium at Pyeongchang 2018.

Ad/> That success was magnified for Kim, as she did it in the nation of her parents — South Korea. She was celebrated as a new national hero not just in the US, but in the land of her ancestors. Beijing 2022Bankes hopes to peak at perfect time at Winter Olympic GamesYESTERDAY AT 21:10 But dealing with that was not initially easy.

The attention became so overwhelming that Kim threw her gold medal in the bin, where it did not stay for long, and she quickly realised that her life was not going to be the same again. “The minute I come home, I can’t even go to my goddamn favourite place,” Kim told TIME, as she reflected on a trip to a local bakery in southern California. “It makes you angry.

I just wanted a day where I was left alone. And it’s impossible. And I appreciate that everyone loves and supports me, but I just wish people could understand what I was going through up to that point.

“Everyone was like, ‘I just met her, and she’s such a b****.’ I’m not a b****. I just had the most exhausting two months of my life, and the minute I get home I’m getting hassled. I just want to get my f****** ham and cheese sandwich and go.” /> It may sound small, but it is an anecdote which