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| Born | November 26, 1972 (age 51) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Shannon Dunn-Downing (born November 26, 1972) is an American snowboarder and Olympic medalist. She received a bronze medal in the halfpipe event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, becoming the first American woman to win a medal in snowboarding.[1] She finished 5th at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. She won a gold medal at the first Winter X Games in California 1997, and again in 2001.
Shannon started snowboarding in 1988 in Steamboat Springs, CO where she grew up, and began competing in the early 1990s.
Shannon was the first woman to land several difficult halfpipe tricks in competition, including a frontsitde 540 in 1991, backside 540 in 1994, McTwist in 1994, frontside 720 in 1995, and frontside rodeo 720 in 2001. She is also noted for working behind the scenes on the development women's products for companies such as Burton Snowboards and Velvet Goggles, and on events such as the all-girl photo shoot, the P!Jamma Party.
In the mid-2000s, Shannon retired from professional snowboarding to focus on raising her family.
