Gold from Iron
A Humble Beginning, Olympic Dreams, and the Power in Getting Back Up
A daring and improbable story of Olympic gold from blue-collar origins
Every summer in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Nick Baumgartner went to work pouring concrete, taking on the harsh physical conditions of the construction trade to support his professional snowboarding dreams come winter. To limit travel time while he trained for the Olympics an hour and a half away from home, he lived out of a crusty, old construction van, parked anywhere he could find a spot.
And in 2022, after 17 years of failure—all the crashes, injuries, and personal setbacks—he won Olympic gold at 40 years old, becoming the oldest Olympic snowboard medalist in history.
In this candid and affable memoir, Baumgartner details his journey from a one-stoplight town to the podium in Beijing. Tales of crisscrossing the globe on the racing circuit and competing in four Olympic Games sit comfortably alongside Baumgartner’s reflections as a single parent and his affectionate portrayal of Iron River, Michigan, the community that raised him.
More than just a sports story, Gold from Iron is a tale of massive dreams, constant sacrifice, and the lessons that can be learned racing down an ice-covered course on a carbon fiber board.
Nick Baumgartner is an Olympic gold medalist snowboarder from Iron River, Michigan. He has competed in four Olympics and earned his first gold medal at the age of 40 in the 2022 Beijing games when he and teammate Lindsey Jacobellis won the inaugural Olympic mixed snowboard cross race.
Jeff Seidel has been a journalist for more than 30 years, specializing in narrative stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. His work has appeared in USA Today, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and the The Chicago Tribune. For the past 10 years, Seidel has been a sports columnist at the Detroit Free Press.
