Born in
Toledo, Ohio, Bleiler aspired to compete in the Winter
X Games from a very young age, and found her passion in snowboarding at age 11 (1992). She has been riding ever since and became professional in 1996. Among her accomplishments, she jump-started the invert revolution for female riders as the first to land a
Crippler 540 in competition, and won more halfpipe competitions in 2003, 2005 and 2006 than any other female snowboarder. In the pre-Olympic season she won four of the five US Olympic halfpipe qualifiers and is also a four-time X Games gold medalist, most recently winning the superpipe at
Winter X Games XIV. She posed for the February 2004 issue of
FHM, along with fellow snowboarder
Tara Dakides and sportscaster
Jamie Little. Bleiler, who missed qualifying for the
2002 Winter Olympics due to a tiebreaker, won a
silver medal in the women's
halfpipe at the
2006 Winter Olympics in
Turin, Italy. Starting in 2007, Bleiler expanded her career into snowboard and outerwear design, through
Oakley and
K2 Snowboarding, designing her own signature outerwear line for Oakley, and participating in the K2 Alliance, which develops and tests women's products, as well as working on the graphics for several K2 Boards. In 2008, she helped to create a new all-female invitational superpipe competition at
Snowmass called the Snow Angels Invitational. While competing in the
Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, many considered Bleiler a gold medal favorite. However, she fell on both of her final runs, and took 11th place. During the summer, Gretchen Bleiler coaches and mentors youth at High Cascade Snowboard Camp. In 2008, 2010, and 2014 she was awarded a Signature Session at High Cascade. Bleiler announced her retirement in January 2014 after being injured in a 2012 training accident and failing to make the
2014 Winter Olympics team. She is currently pursuing speaking, writing, teaching, activism and being an entrepreneur; she is an owner of ALEX Bottle (which stands for "Always Live EXtraordinarily") with her husband Chris.
Career highlights • 2010 X Games Superpipe Gold Medalist • 2008
Winter Dew Tour Superpipe Champion (Breckenridge, Co) • 2008 X Games Halfpipe Gold Medalist • 2006 FIS World Cup 1st Place, Saas Fe, Switzerland • 2006 Olympic silver medalist • 2006 Overall Grand Prix Champion; won four of the five Grand Prix events determining Olympic team • 2005 X Games and Gravity Games Gold Medalist • 2005 US Open Halfpipe Champion • FIS World Cup 1st Place, Bardonecchia, Italy • Eight straight wins in 2003 • 2003 X Games Halfpipe Gold Medalist • 2003 US Open Champion • Won 2003 Overall Grand Prix Title • One of only four females invited to coveted 2003 Arctic Challenge • 2002 and 2003 Vans Triple Crown Overall Title Winner • Won 2003 World SuperPipe Championships
Awards • Voted 2006 Female Snowboarder of the Year at
FUEL TV's inaugural Action Sports Awards • Nominated for 2006
ESPY Award • Won 2004
Colorado Female Athlete of the Year Award • Earned
Transworld Snowboarding's Reader's Choice Award in 2004 • Nominated for 2004
Laureus "Female Action Sports Athlete" Award • Named Snowboarder and Transworld Snowboarding 2003 "Female Rider of the Year" • Nominated for 2009
Teen Choice Awards "Other Action Sports Athlete – Female" ==Personal life==