Snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, who was in Atlanta this past week to visit with sponsor Coca-Cola, is a two-time Olympian who took silver in the halfpipe in the 2006 Games. In Vancouver, Bleiler finished 11th. Bleiler, 29, has translated her performance, personality and appearance into deals with Coca-Cola, K2, Nike and Oakley, among others. She spoke with the AJC. Her answers were edited for length.
Q: What's a memorable experience you had at the Olympics with an athlete from another country?
A: Closing ceremonies, [snowboarder] Kelly Clark and I, we sat down with a group of athletes from Russia. And at the end of the ceremonies, one of the girls who was sitting next to me she asked if we could trade jackets. We were wearing sweaters or something. She had a Russian jacket. I thought that was the perfect thing to trade, with Sochi [hosting the Olympics] in 2014. So I traded my U.S. jacket for a Russia jacket. I'm not even sure what sport she was in. She really didn't speak a whole lot of English.
Q: You've become something of a brand in snowboarding. What was your motivation?
A: For me, when I decided to sort of take the leap and try and become a professional snowboarder, it was my goal from the beginning to make the most of the career and do everything I could to see how far I could take it. For a lot of snowboarders, it's just about snowboarding.
That's all they want to do and they want to spend all their time in the backcountry filming and that's their plan. For me, from the beginning, I've had opportunities because of the success I was having to do other things, and I said yes to them because I felt like it was a way to sort of grow and learn new things and make the most of it.
Q: Is it a difficult line to walk, appearing in a men's magazine in a bikini and also trying to be a role model for young girls?
A: It's funny how much that's brought up. I understand why that is, but that was in 2003 and it's amazing [how often it is brought up]. I was just in London and did an interview on CNN, their world sports show, and their anchor is talking to me about FHM. That was seven years ago.
For me, when I did that, that was at a point in my career where I felt like I needed to say yes to every opportunity to get the sport out there and get myself out there. Now at this point, I feel like because of the success I have and now just growing and becoming a smarter person, I'm able to use my success in the way I want to instead of the way the media wants to. So instead of going and doing FHM shoots, I'm going and talking about the environment.
Q: How much Coke do you drink in a week?
A: Well, I was just there [Wednesday], so I had a lot of Coke yesterday. I had a Sprite Zero in the morning. I drink Dasani a lot. And then also I had an actual Coke. I went to the World of Coke, so I was sampling all of the different flavors. Inca Kola is a really good one, actually.
Q: Are there any sports that you think, ‘Wow, you'd have to be crazy to do that?'"
A: Oh, yeah. There's so many. Motocross, the guys doing backflips on snowmobiles, I think that's crazy. I think a lot of sports are crazy. Skeleton in the Olympics. There are many. I could keep going and going and going.
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