If you watched the Olympics this weekend, you know the name Red Gerard.
This 17-year-old from Silverthorne, Colorado defeated Canadians Max Parrot and Mark McMorris to win the first Team USA gold medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics in slopestyle snowboarding.
Gerard is also the youngest American to medal in a snowboarding event and he did it by coming back from last place before his final run.
If you haven’t heard of Gerard yet, get ready to … a lot. Here are 9 things to know about him that are pretty awesome.
He moved to Colorado from Cleveland … and now has his own terrain park
Gerard has been snowboarding since he was 2, and according to the Team USA website, “as the sixth of seven children, he quickly learned that if he didn’t keep up he’d be left behind.”
His family moved to Breckenridge when he was eight, and in the years since, his older brothers has install a series of rails behind the family home. That includes a rope tow, for the record.
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Red Gerard had the most relatable reaction ever to winning gold (but we can’t publish it)
There are sometimes in life when loudly proclaiming a profanity is actually an appropriate response.
And that’s exactly what Red Gerard did when he found out he won gold. Obviously, we can’t really print what he said, and while there are videos of it online, we won’t post them here because we’re a family-friendly website, darn it (you do have access to the Google machine, though)!
What we will publish is NBC’s apology:
3rd & final — Mike Tirico apologizing for the kid’s language 🥇 pic.twitter.com/vSy8Z70kIi
He has a prolific social media following (but his sister’s is bigger)
Red Gerard, like many teenagers, is on Twitter and Instagram. However, unlike most teenagers, his followers number into the tens of thousands and his videos feature him competing in international competitions.
His sister, however, has her own business and half a million Instagram followers. She runs a food blog called Half-Baked Harvest.
You can read all about his family here: http://on9news.tv/2Bnans9
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He was almost late to the Olympics
That’s according to a New York Times story about his victory, in which his roommate was quote saying he was worried Gerard would sleep through his 10 a.m. start
“I had to play a little bit of a dad figure and get him up in the morning,” his 20-year-old roommate Kyle Mack told the New York Times.
Thrillist reports he actually fell asleep to Netflix the night before (same) and realized he couldn’t find his jacket.
He’s been competing professionally since 2016
When he was just 15, Gerard placed fifth in his Dw Tour Slopestyle debut and also got fifth at the U.S. Open. This got him a spot on the U.S. Snowboarding pro slopestyle team, which obviously worked out.
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The city of Silverthorne renamed itself for him
Red Gerard’s hometown is proud of him, and they had a pretty epic way to show it.
The sign welcoming visitors to Silverthorne changed to “Goldthorne” over the weekend in his honor.
It’s pretty sweet.
His family is super fun
Red Gerard told Hoda and Savannah from the TODAY Show that his family has been "partying nonstop" since coming to South Korea and watching him win his gold medal.
Can you really blame him? Watch his full interview here: http://bit.ly/2HcghN5
His helmet fell off during Nationals once (but he still got sponsored by Burton)
According to his website, he competed in a national junior competition, but was disqualified when his helmet fell off during the finals.
But, the next year, a judge told Burton about him and soon, he was sponsored.
He met one of the stars of "Stranger Things" and frankly we're jealous
We'll end this with a post showing him and Gaten Matarazzo from "Stranger Things." What a power duo.
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