Olympic Transplant Recipient Promotes Organ Donation

26 February 2010

US parallel giant slalom snowboarder Chris Klug

United States parallel giant slalom snowboarder Chris Klug has more than just a desire to win an Olympic medal in Vancouver. He also is spreading the word about the need for organ donors, as he himself is a transplant recipient.

American Chris Klug is by no means your typical Olympic snowboarder. In fact, he's not your typical recreational snowboarder either.

In a sport that is mostly popular with a younger generation, Klug is 37-years-old and is married. He is also much bigger than your typical snowboarder, standing 1.91 meters tall and weighing more than 100 kilograms.

Klug has been snowboarding since 1983, before most of his competitors were even born. He finished sixth in the giant slalom event when snowboarding made its debut at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. He is now is ready to compete in his third Olympics.

"You know, I was an avid skateboarder as a kid," Klug said. "I had a big half-pipe in my backyard and that's what kind of drew me to snowboarding initially. I looked and I said, hey, that's skateboarding on snow. That's perfect for me."

And he's still at it 27 years later in a career that has included not only injuries like a broken collar bone, broken ankles and torn knee ligaments, but also a liver transplant. In fact, Chris Klug was the first athlete to win an Olympic medal after undergoing a major organ transplant. He received a new liver less than two years before winning a snowboarding bronze medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.