How Red Gerard Is Preparing to Reach the Medal Podium at the Beijing 2022 Olympics
This story is part of The 2020 Project, a Men's Health special project that explores the lives of 20 different 20-year-old men across America. To learn more about the others, go here.
SUCCESS SEEMED to come easily—maybe even accidentally—to snowboarder Red Gerard. Soaring high in the slope style at the 2018 Olympics, Gerard became the youngest American male to win a gold medal since the Great Depression. The media seized on what they deemed ultra–Gen Z about the 17-year-old: his supposed devil-may-care attitude, including how he overslept the day of the competition and couldn’t find his jacket,having to borrow one from a teammate.Gerard later insisted he was more together than the media made it sound. But he freely admits he had some growing up to do. “When I was 17, I was such a punk-ass, honestly,” he says. “I really, to be honest, had no clue why the Olympics had so much hype around them.”
At 20, he’s not claiming wisdom, but he knows that being young and brash is one thing and sustaining your talent is another. Not traveling this summer didn’t faze him, because the Silverthorne, Colorado, resident has been testing new ways to soar to new heights, his eyes set on the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. Here’s his four-part plan:
Step 1: Do Other Sports. Seriously.
In a rare bit of relatability from an Olympic gold medalist, Gerard confesses that he hasn’t “gotten in the gym as much as I would have liked to this summer." But he’s expanding his athletic repertoire and “doing the things that everyone else does,” like golf (see below), tennis (“It’s a pretty easy sport to make progress in, and it’s a good workout”), and especially surfing (“It keeps my legs pretty fresh and hopefully pretty ready for snow”).
Step 2: Get Good at Being Bad.
“I have a love-hate relationship with golf,” Gerard says, but he credits it as the best thing he’s doing now to improve his snowboarding mental game. “I’m an action-sport person, but it’s such a patient game. I’ll go out and have a really bad round and be like, ‘Dude, I don’t know if I can do this.’ I can get so frustrated at it.Trying to calm myself down in the moment and refocus, it’s a total, total mental game.” That’s the same feeling he gets when he’s learning tricks—minus the wipeouts. “It can be a total battle, where you’re going ten to 20 rounds of falling,” he says. “It’s just complete patience.”
Step 3: Maximize Downtime.
One way to compete better is to compete a lot. With that off the table during quarantine, Gerard has been aiming to get himself in the headspace of competing under a spotlight, even when he’s just riding the couch. “I’m trying to relive that feeling in my head so it’s not such an uncomfortable feeling when it comes,” he says.
Step 4: Stay Humble.
Next year, Gerard will appear in Burton Snowboards’ film One World, featuring riders in some of the best snowboarding locations on the planet. Despite having made history, Gerard has a deep respect for others striving around him, even if he once bested them.“Truthfully, I would not give advice to anyone older than me. I look to older guys to give me advice!”
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