From Chalet Maid to Olympic Snowboarding Medalist: The Jenny Jones Story

In this episode, Michelle sits down (and sweats it out) with snowboarding legend Jenny Jones — Olympic bronze medalist, X Games gold medalist, and certified underdog badass.

Jenny gets raw about the unplanned journey from chalet maid to Olympic history-maker — no coach, no roadmap, just grit, resilience, and a love for being out on the mountain. She opens up about dealing with major injuries, being the "older" athlete at 31 in a sport built for teens, and the brutal concussion that nearly cost her the Olympics just months before Sochi.

Recorded inside the sauna-like HQ of The Wave in Bristol, this episode is full of sweat, laughs, and no-BS truths about what it really takes to do things your own way and win.

Listener Takeaways

• Risking everything pays off – Jenny turned down a safe path to chase a life in the snow and made history.
• You can succeed without a plan – She carved her career season by season, figuring it out as she went.
• Being underestimated is powerful – Jenny was often the only Brit in comps and used that to her advantage.
• Mental resilience is key – Her comeback after post-concussion syndrome shows how brutal yet possible recovery can be.
• Age is just a number – She defied expectations by medaling at 31 in a sport dominated by teens.
• Sisterhood in sport matters – From chalet girl antics to world-class coaching, women backing women was central to her story.

Episode Timestamps

• 00:00:00 – Michelle’s intro: A hotbox, a snowboard legend, and some questionable surfing
• 00:03:55 – Jenny’s journey from chalet maid to pro snowboarder begins
• 00:07:10 – Competing for fun turned into a global career: Jenny’s first win
• 00:09:00 – How she ended up competing in Sochi at 31 after almost retiring
• 00:12:10 – “You’re six years older than everyone” – Olympic pressure and feeling out of place
• 00:13:30 – The dark side: head injury, slurred speech, and hiding the truth pre-Olympics
• 00:16:00 – Fighting through post-concussion syndrome and choosing to show up anyway
• 00:19:15 – The moment she won Olympic bronze and couldn’t quite believe it
• 00:22:00 – Why snowboarding culture (and its women) shaped her the most
• 00:23:50 – Shifting into surfing and teaching: finding new joy after elite sport
• 00:25:10 – Michelle gets dared to surf — and it's all going downhill from here

Perfect For You If:

• You’re figuring it out as you go — and need proof that’s okay
• You’ve been told you’re “too old” to start something new
• You love sports stories that don’t follow the rules
• You’ve been knocked down and need a push to get back up
• Or you just want a damn good conversation between two women who don’t do things by the book

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