By Mari Saito
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Russian snowboarder Vic Wild, who won bronze at the men’s parallel giant slalom event on Tuesday, said he has doubts about competing at another Olympic Games, given all of the sacrifices it requires.
The 35-year-old Wild, who won gold in both parallel slalom and the parallel giant slalom events in Sochi in 2014, switched to compete for Russia from the United States, gaining citizenship in 2012 after marrying a fellow Russian snowboarder.
Wild, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, beat South Korean favourite Lee Sang-ho by 0.01 seconds in a nail-biting quarter-final and later lost to Slovenian Tim Mastnak, who took silver. Austria’s Benjamin Karl won gold.
“I don’t think very many people can understand how many other parts of your life you have to put on pause to keep doing it. Physically and mentally, everything, it’s a lot,” he said.
“So to be honest, to take all of that and to say another four years of what I’m doing now just to come to the Olympics, I doubt that I can.
“I doubt it’s the right thing for me to keep trying,” he said, adding that he would have to think about it in time.
(Additional reporting by Winni Zhou; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
