“I painted a picture in my head and I basically wrote a story,” he said. “I was like, ‘Nick Goepper returns from retirement, goes into halfpipe, goes to another Olympics and wins the gold.’ I painted this picture. And I was like, ‘Would I enjoy this? Would this be fun? Would this be like something I want to dedicate the next four years of my life to?’ And so from that point forward was a series of very small steps to determine if this is something I would want to put my all into.”

On Thursday in Livigno, Italy, that picture will be painted when he heads down the halfpipe for Team USA. Gold is a possibility, but Goepper said “it’s not the end-all, be-all.”

“I got a lot of life to live. I got an amazing family and girlfriend and other things to look forward to,” he said. “So on one hand, it’s all that matters, and that’s kind of how I’m approaching it this year. But on the other hand, it’s not all that matters. People are going to love you regardless.”