{{Short description|American-born Russian snowboarder}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Vic Wild | image = Vic Wild in 2022 - 01 (cropped).jpg | caption = Wild in 2022 | full_name = Victor Ivan Wild | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1986|8|23|mf=yes}} | birth_place = White Salmon, Washington, U.S. | sport = Snowboarding | country = {{RUS}} | citizenship = {{RUS}} | height = 5 ft 10 in | weight = 175 lb | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Men's snowboarding }} {{MedalCountry | {{RUS}} }} {{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }} {{MedalGold | 2014 Sochi | Parallel Slalom }} {{MedalGold | 2014 Sochi | Parallel Giant Slalom }} {{MedalCompetition | FIS Snowboarding World Championships }} {{MedalBronze | 2013 Stoneham | Parallel Giant Slalom }} {{MedalCountry|{{flagIOC|ROC|2022 Winter}}}} {{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }} {{MedalBronze | 2022 Beijing | Parallel Giant Slalom }} }}
'''Victor Ivan Wild''' ({{langx|ru|Виктор Айван Уайлд}}; born August 23, 1986) is an American-born Russian snowboarder.
==Career== Wild won a bronze medal in the parallel giant slalom at the 2013 FIS Snowboarding World Championships<ref>{{cite news |title=Isabella Laboeck and Benjamin Karl clinch Parallel Giant Slalom World Championships title |url=http://www.fissnowboard.com/uk/news/isabella-laboeck-and-benjamin-karl-clinch-parallel-giant-slalom-world-championships-title,607.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216014430/http://www.fissnowboard.com/uk/news/isabella-laboeck-and-benjamin-karl-clinch-parallel-giant-slalom-world-championships-title,607.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 16, 2013 |publisher=FIS |date=26 January 2013 |accessdate=2013-01-27}}</ref> and gold medals in the parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, which made him the first snowboarder ever to win two medals at the same Winter Games.<ref name=Passan>{{cite news |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-an-american-snowboarder-helped-russia-win-the-medal-table-at-the-sochi-games-180006892.html |title=How an American snowboarder helped Russia win the Sochi Games' medal table |first=Jeff |last=Passan |publisher=Yahoo! Sports |date=February 22, 2014 |accessdate=February 22, 2014}}</ref> At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, he won a bronze medal in parallel giant.
Wild originally competed for the United States, but after the 2010 Winter Olympics, the United States Ski and Snowboard Association shut down its alpine snowboarding program. According to a 2014 story by Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, Wild had been viewed by US snowboarding officials "as an enfant terrible, someone who didn't understand alpine's place in the [USA] snowboarding power structure. Halfpipe is king, with slopestyle creeping up in importance, and snowboardcross racing third."<ref name=Passan /> One of Wild's former coaches indicated that before its closure, the alpine snowboarding program had a budget of $135,000, a fraction of the funding needed for an internationally competitive team.<ref name=Passan /> This is mainly caused by the fact that the United States remains the only country in the world not to fund its Olympic Committee, which is why available funding is limited.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-olympic-sports-groups-seek-government-aid-11586689219|title = WSJ News Exclusive | U.S. Olympic Sports Groups Seek Government Aid|newspaper = Wall Street Journal|date = 12 April 2020|last1 = Bachman|first1 = Rachel}}</ref>
Wild opted to leave the country after he married Russian snowboarder Alena Zavarzina in 2011. He then applied for Russian citizenship.<ref name=Passan /> After winning gold for Russia at the Sochi Olympics, Wild commented, "Russia is a country that made it possible for me to win. Had I stayed in the US, I'd probably be still sitting at home, doing some ordinary job, doing something banal and not interesting. I always wanted something different … It is just amazing that I won this gold for Russia. Some may think, 'This guy still stays American.' … And that is not true! I am not some American guy who decided it would be easier to get to Olympics in a country where snowboarding is undeveloped. I have chosen the harder path to success, and I have walked it all the way."<ref>[http://www.sovsport.md/sochi/texts/text-item/686830 Profile] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224170643/http://www.sovsport.md/sochi/texts/text-item/686830 |date=February 24, 2014 }}, sovsport.md; accessed February 14, 2014.</ref>
Wild received more than $400,000 in bonuses from the Russian government for winning two gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Games. He was also presented with a brand-new SUV. Unlike the United States, where the Olympic Committee is a non-governmental structure,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/us-olympic-wins-not-due-government-involvement/ | title=U.S. Has Done Fine with No Government Department of Sports | website=National Review | date=10 August 2016 }}</ref> the Russian government not only funds the Olympic Committee and athletes but also rewards them with cash for winning medals.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1977004-in-russia-earning-an-olympic-medal-at-sochi-means-a-mercedes-and-pile-of-cash | title=In Russia, Earning an Olympic Medal at Sochi Means a Mercedes and Pile of Cash | website=Bleacher Report }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/russia-gives-all-its-gold-medalists--120-000--a-new-mercedes-174223357.html | title=Russia gives all its gold medalists $120,000, a new Mercedes | date=27 February 2014 }}</ref>
thumb|left|300px|Vladimir Putin and Wild in 2014 Wild received the Order For Merit to the Fatherland Award 4th class with Russian President Vladimir Putin handing the state awards.<ref name=OMF2014>{{cite news |url=http://en.itar-tass.com/sochi-2014-winter-olympics-and-paralympics/720678 |title=Russia's Olympic athletes receive state awards |work=Itar-Tass |date=February 24, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-36830502/russia-operated-state-sponsored-doping-programme|title = Russia operated 'state-sponsored doping programme'|work = BBC News}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{FIS snowboarder|181650}} * {{Olympics.com}} * {{Olympedia}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions in Snowboarding Men}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild, Vic}} Category:Living people Category:American male snowboarders Category:Russian male snowboarders Category:1986 births Category:American emigrants to Russia Category:Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Category:Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Category:Snowboarders at the 2022 Winter Olympics Category:Olympic snowboarders for Russia Category:Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Category:Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Category:Olympic gold medalists for Russia Category:Olympic bronze medalists for the Russian Olympic Committee athletes Category:Olympic medalists in snowboarding Category:Sportspeople from Washington (state) Category:People from Klickitat County, Washington Category:Naturalized citizens of Russia Category:21st-century American sportsmen Category:21st-century Russian sportsmen