Wild originally competed for the United States, but after the 2010 Winter Olympics, the United States Ski and Snowboard Association shut down its alpine snowboarding program. According to a 2014 story by Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, Wild had been viewed by US snowboarding officials "as an enfant terrible, someone who didn't understand alpine's place in the [USA] snowboarding power structure. Halfpipe is king, with slopestyle creeping up in importance, and snowboardcross racing third."[2] One of Wild's former coaches indicated that before its closure, the alpine snowboarding program had a budget of $135,000, a fraction of the funding needed for an internationally competitive team.[2] This is mainly caused by the fact that the United States remains the only country in the world not to fund its Olympic Committee, which is why available funding is limited.[3]
Wild opted to leave the country after he married Russian snowboarder Alena Zavarzina in 2011. He then applied for Russian citizenship.[2] After winning gold for Russia at the Sochi Olympics, Wild commented, "Russia is a country that made it possible for me to win. Had I stayed in the US, I'd probably be still sitting at home, doing some ordinary job, doing something banal and not interesting. I always wanted something different … It is just amazing that I won this gold for Russia. Some may think, 'This guy still stays American.' … And that is not true! I am not some American guy who decided it would be easier to get to Olympics in a country where snowboarding is undeveloped. I have chosen the harder path to success, and I have walked it all the way."[4]
Wild received more than $400,000 in bonuses from the Russian government for winning two gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Games. He was also presented with a brand-new SUV. Unlike the United States, where the Olympic Committee is a non-governmental structure,[5] the Russian government not only funds the Olympic Committee and athletes but also rewards them with cash for winning medals.[6][7]
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