French snowboarder ends career in epic fashion with tiger suit at Beijing Olympics

The Olympic Games breeds bitter rivalries and fierce competitiveness, but French snowboarder Lucile Lefevre is out here to remind us sports don’t have to be so serious all the time – even on the biggest stages.

Last week in Beijing, Lefevre hurt her knee during slopestyle, causing an injury for Monday’s big air competition – the final Olympic event for the snowboarder who’d previously announced the Beijing Games as her last competition.

Instead of crumbling in devastation, Lefevre turned the negative situation into a positive, jumping out of her final competition in spectacular fashion – or, more specifically, in a tiger suit.

The 26-year-old celebrated the Year of the Tiger in China by sporting a black-and-orange cat costume while taking the big air jump. Although Lefevre couldn’t pull any tricks due to the injury, nothing stopped her from imitating a pair of tiger claws while flying through the air to thrill the local fans.

The costume has a story of its own. Lefevre borrowed it from Swiss snowboard Nicolas Huber, who’s worn it in Lunar New Year-inspired Instagram videos.

If you thought Lefevre was nutty, get a load of this:

“I asked yesterday if he can give it to me for the day, a special day for me,” Lefevre said to the Associated Press. “And he said ‘Yes, of course.’

“He’s a crazy man, actually.”

Appearing in her second consecutive Winter Games, Lefevre may have come last in the big air competition, but she certainly won the day and stole the hearts of Olympic viewers.

And besides, simply being at the Games defies the odds for the young woman diagnosed with osteochondrosis – a bone growth-stunting illness – at three years old. Several operations later, doctors said Lefevre couldn’t play sports. She proved them wrong and then some by making a career out of flying off 155-foot jumps.

“I said, ‘OK, I just want to do some easy sports,’” said Lefebvre, looking back. “And then I tried snowboarding.”

Right… nothing easier than locking your feet to a plank and carving your way down massive snowy and icy mountains.

But the truth is, despite her being ranked seventh in world slopestyle with what seems like years of competing ahead due to her age, the sport has taken its toll on Lefevre’s body and she knew her career was coming to a close.

What a way to cap it off.

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