Vic Wild: 'I had to choose Russia'

US-born Russian Federation snowboarder Vic Wild has said that he had no choice but to switch allegiance to the 2014 Winter Games host nation before the Olympics.

The 27-year-old, who was born in Washington, had previously competed for the USA, but became a Russian citizen in 2011 after marrying snowboarder Alena Zavarzina.

"I wouldn't even be here if I hadn't [switched allegiances]," Wild told The Sport Review. "I wouldn't be snowboarding.

"It wasn't like I had an opportunity in the US and then decided to go to Russia.

"It's not like there was an option. I had to make a life for myself, I had to make money. It was the only way if I wanted to snowboard."

Wild won gold in the men's snowboarding parallel slalom in Sochi earlier today.