Liu is one of China's most exciting young athletes, taking up snowboarding after spending most of her life practicing martial arts.

"My grandma took me to learn martial arts at sports schools since I was little. Knives, swords, spears, halberds, I've worked with all of those weapons," she told Xinhua News Agency last year.

Wainwright said Liu, whom he nicknamed Birdie, stood out immediately in that group of 12 teenagers, even though her only experience with halfpipe up to that point was jumping on a trampoline with her snowboard strapped on.

"She goes big, really big in the halfpipe. She rides her board so well up the transition and letting all of that energy get transferred up in the air, which is very rare in girls' snowboarding," he said.

Beijing has focused on snowboard halfpipe because it's considered a technical sport where the relatively smaller Chinese athletes tend to excel, as opposed to events where size or strength are more important.

Within two months, Liu and her teammates were landing 720s and McTwists. Training with his team in the same area, Canadian coach Tom Hutchinson was inspired to copy the Chinese and started recruiting gymnasts, trampolinists and divers.