Kaya Turski is a slopestyle skiing legend. She took home gold at the X Games three years in a row and was the first woman to land a switch 1080 (a backwards-take-off jump with three rotations) in competition. This year, slopestyle is making its Olympic debut. But, exactly six months to the day before she was set to compete in Sochi, Kaya tore her ACL. A true champion, she decided to push her recovery faster to make it to the Games in spite of the setback. Here are five things you didn’t know about Kaya Turski. 1. She’s known in the industry as the rollerblader. “I did aggressive inline rollerblading. Every weekend I would go to this skate park, hang out with the boys and a couple girls, and that’s where I learned a lot of what I do today, like air sense and balance and transitions and ramps. It’s all the same stuff.” 2. She may be a daredevil on the slopes, but she’s not always a thrill-seeker. “In skiing, I can control my speed. I have the choice whether to do the jump or not. Something like bungee jumping absolutely terrifies me. It’s kind of funny.” 3. Though she has opened up with the world about her injury and recovery, there was a time that she considered keeping it quiet. “I wanted to connect with people, let them in on my journey to the Olympics, the good and the bad. But then I got hurt and I was like, I’m just going to pull out. No one’s even going to know. It’s hard to show people your weaknesses.” 4. She’s a Pinterest pro. “I love crafting. I just got a little home in Santa Monica, so I had a really fun time furnishing that and creating projects throughout the condo. So I paint the walls in quotes I like. And one of my projects was getting an old frame at a garage sale and sanding it, staining it, hanging it on the wall, then I put a ton of Polaroids from over the years in the frame. I like doing mosaics, beading. I’ve always been really crafty. I think that’s what balances me in my hectic life.” 5. She hand-painted an inspirational quote on her wall. “It says, ‘Live in the faith that the entire world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that’s in you.’” Learn more about Kaya's road to Sochi. (Photography: Ananda van Welij)