Competing in the Olympic Games in one event
is an incredible achievement.
But to do it in two different sports...
is practically unheard of.
And doing it at the same Olympic Games?
Inconceivable!
Should Ester Ledecká have listened to the experts
who said competing in two sports would be too much?
Or can one Olympian shush the naysayers
and shock the world by pulling off the unimaginable?
Wait for it!
Hello!
I'm Olympic gymnast and non-skier, Nile Wilson.
In the mid-60s, the snowboarders crashed
the skiers' party up on the mountain.
The only thing they had in common was racing downhill...
and snow.
Ester Ledecká not only found common ground,
she decided to break the rivalry
and split her time between both adrenalin-filled sports.
By 2018, she showed up in South Korea
as the odds-on favorite in the parallel giant slalom.
But in the Super-G,
the term "long shot" wouldn't even apply.
Ester's family already had an Olympic pedigree.
Her grandfather was a star hockey player,
winning two medals for the Czechoslovakian hockey team.
She could have followed in her grandfather's ice skates,
but family vacations had her excited about something else...
Skiing, at age two.
Then she added snowboarding to her repertoire.
Ester became a standout in the parallel giant slalom.
And when on skis, she focused on the downhill.
But her coaches repeatedly told her,
"You must choose between skiing and snowboarding."
To ski, or to snowboard?
That was the question for Ester.
The answer? Another question.
"Why not both?"
Ledecká, five gates or six gates from home,
comes up with a massive mistake!
Wait for it!
You see, Ester took a page from her dad's songbook.
He was a rock star who also composed
a successful rock opera of Hamlet.
So competing in a couplet of sports made total sense.
They say it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill.
How do you master two sports, from the same Olympics,
in just four years?
Once again, it is all about family.
Her mum helped Ester manage
her grueling day-to-day schedule.
And there was one other thing that she'd asked of her team...
Just a little superstitious,
anyone who used the "O" word
had to put ten pounds into Ester's swear jar.
Instead, they called the Olympics
"The Korea Friendly."
I like the way she talks to herself down the hill,
and she's going incredibly well.
Wow!
Good recovery from Ledecká.
Wait for it!
Of the 45 women competing in the Super G,
to say she was underestimated would be an understatement.
The way the order for the Super-G was set,
the first 20 racers are the only ones
who realistically have a chance of reaching the podium.
Ester was number 26.
Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic.
And she's about to write a new page of history.
As the first athlete to compete in both skiing and snowboarding
in the same Olympic Games.
Where is she on the clock now?
-Oh, she's got the green light! -Wow!
Ledecká, five gates or six gates from home,
comes up with a massive mistake!
It's been brilliant until then. Ledecká!
What a recovery from the youngster!
She's taken the gold!
She has taken gold!
Ledecká, from the Czech Republic,
cannot believe it!
She cannot believe it!
She's standing on the top step of the podium
by 1/100th of a second!
1/100th of a second!
1/100th of a second?
Do you have any idea how fast that is?
That's ten times faster than a blink of an eye.
Ester Ledecká pulled off one of the greatest upsets
in the Olympics ever.
Or for that matter, the history of sports.
Her family, of course, was thrilled.
50 years after her grandfather brought home a silver,
she added a gold to the family collection.
But wait, what about the snowboarding?
Now the gap has grown to almost a third of a second.
Ester Ledecká approaches the line!
The roar from the crowd!
Super G gold! Snowboarding gold!
Things like that are just not supposed to happen!
Holy snowballs!
Another gold!
As Shakespeare once wrote,
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."
Competing in two totally different Olympic events
may seem "mad" to some, but that "method" led Ester
to become the first to achieve these amazing achievements.
The curtain comes down on this historic act in the Olympics.
Dammit! Sorry, Ester.
There are many more performances to come.
You'll just have to... wait for it.