PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Hood River native Sean Fitzsimons said making his first Olympic team a dream come true. The 21-year-old who calls Mount Hood his home mountain has not had an easy road to clinch his spot on the US Olympic snowboarding team.
In fact, it came down ot needing to win the final qualifying competition. But instead of putting so much pressure on himself and his runs, he did just the opposite.
“I just snowboard. I don’t know, I wasn’t even thinking about the contest. I was just, like, I’m just going to do my run and wherever it puts me I’ll live with it,” Fitzsimons told KOIN 6 News. “As long as I can land it I’ll live with it because I’ll be, like, I did everything I can do.”
He gives a lot of credit to Hood River — “my favorite place in the world” — and his community for the support to make it to the Olympics.
“Throughout my whole life growing up there and snowboarding and the amount of support I’ve received just from the whole community I think has played the biggest role in getting to this point,” he said.
“If it doesn’t go well I’m still snowboarding. I’m still riding with all my best friends in this amazing place. Like, it’s not that bad.”
– Sean fitzsimons
Since he was literally 18 months old, he’s been slopestyle snowboarding.
As a toddler, he said “I’d be going down my boots were so big and I think I was 18 months old and I have a binky in my mouth and I’d, like fall asleep. I’d be cruising down and then my dad would come down and pick me up out of my boots.”
Now that he’s an Olympian, he’s enjoying it — and a bit relieved. “It only comes around every 4 years.”
Fitzsimons said he’s having a lot of fun snowboarding and thinks that’s why things are going well right now.
“I’ve sort of figured out my competition mentality of just not caring, I guess, and just snowboarding. And just being, like, if it doesn’t go well I’m still snowboarding. I’m still riding with all my best friends in this amazing place. Like, it’s not that bad.”