Shaun White

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Not to be confused with Sean White.
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Shaun White

White with Richard Branson in April 2009
Born September 3, 1986 (1986-09-03) (age 22)
Carlsbad, California
Nationality American
Height 5 ft 8.5 in (1.74 m)
Known for Professional snowboarder and skateboarder
Olympic medal record
Olympic Men's Snowboarding
Gold 2006 Torino Men's Halfpipe
Winter Dew Tour Medal Record
Silver 2009 Mt. Snow Slopestyle
Gold 2009 Mt. Snow Superpipe
Gold 2008 Breckenridge Slopestyle
Silver 2008 Breckenridge Superpipe
Silver 2009 Northstar Slopestyle
Bronze 2009 Northstar Superpipe
Dew Tour Medal Record
Gold 2007 Vert
Gold 2007 Vert
Gold 2008 Vert
Winter X Games Medal Record
Silver 2002 Superpipe
Gold 2003 Slopestyle
Gold 2003 Superpipe
Gold 2004 Slopestyle
Gold 2005 Slopestyle
Gold 2006 Slopestyle
Gold 2006 Superpipe
Silver 2007 Superpipe
Bronze 2007 Slopestyle
Bronze 2008 Slopestyle
Gold 2008 Superpipe
Gold 2009 Slopestyle
Gold 2009 Superpipe
X Games Medal Record
Men's Skateboarding
Silver 2005 Vert
Gold 2007 Vert
Bronze 2008 Vert
TTR World Snowboard Tour Record
Men's Snowboarding
Gold 2007 Overall
Silver 2008 Overall

Shaun Fredrick Thomas White (born September 3, 1986 in Carlsbad, California) has been a notable competitor in professional snowboarding since he was 13 years old, but is also known for his skateboarding. He was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect for which he endured two open-heart operations; One operation at six months, and the second at 12 months.[1]

White stands 5' 8.5" (1.73 m) tall. He rides regular stance, twelve and negative three degrees on his board.[2] He is known for his shock of red hair, for which he has become known as "The Flying Tomato." Addressing his perception of the nickname, Rolling Stone magazine wrote, "he used to embrace it, even wearing headbands with a flying-tomato logo, but he has grown tired of it."[3]

Contents

[edit] Snowboarding career

Shaun spent his formative years riding holiday valley and Bear Mountain, small ski resorts found in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. Today, his sponsors include Burton Snowboards, as well as Oakley, Birdhouse Skateboards, Park City Resort, Target, Red Bull, Adio, and HP; White also has his own character on the game Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder as well as his newly released Shaun White video game. White has been a participant in the Winter X Games, where he has medaled every year since 2002. Including all winter X Games competitions through 2009, his medal count stands at 14 (9 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze), including the first four-peat winner by a male athlete in one discipline, the snowboard slopestyle. White's quest for a five-peat Gold in 2007 was spoiled by Andreas Wiig (Gold) and Jussi Oksanen (Silver), with White taking the bronze. He has also won the Air & Style Contest in 2003 and 2004.

Executing a near-flawless second run, Shaun White captured his third consecutive halfpipe title at the 2008 U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships to go along with his third US Open slopestyle competition . This follows White's dramatic win at the 25th (2007) Burton US Open, where he placed third in slopestlyle and first in the halfpipe. White was defending champion of the Open, as he had overcome several years of injuries and other problems to finally win the event in 2006 for the first time. At the 2007 Open, White was also crowned the first "Burton Global Open Champion". His take for the event was $100,000 (Global Open Champ), $20,000 (1st Place Halfpipe), $50,000 (3rd Place Slopestyle), and a new Corvette.

The same season he won almost every contest he entered on the TTR World Snowboard Tour 06/07 earning him the champion title at the US Open in March 2007.[4] In season 08/09 White only had 5 results at the time of the US Open, the tour defining event, and therefore couldn't win the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion title. The trophy was handed out to Kevin Pearce who had only beaten him once at the Burton European Open Halfpipe competition in Laax, Switzerland in January 2008. But by adding a 6th result at another 4 Star TTR event in Switzerland in April, he still moved into the No. 1 position in the snowboard world ranking at the end of the season earning him $50,000.[5] Even with success he stays humble while acknowledging the skill of others of the opposite sex. “I definitely see the talent,” Shaun White, the 2006 Olympic gold medalist in men’s halfpipe, said of the top professional women. “Torah Bright did tricks I can’t do. I was learning tricks — switch backside 7 — she could do in the halfpipe.” [6]

On 2009-01-25, Shaun became the second competitor, after Tanner Hall, to win a gold medal in the Superpipe in consecutive years at the Winter X Games, beating Kevin Pearce in his third and final run. There was a lot of controversy over who won the 2009 SuperPipe at Winter X Games 13. Kevin Pearce had 5 hits in the pipe and all were the same tricks Shaun did in his final run. Shaun on the other hand had 6 hits and he started off his run with a big backside rodeo 540 where Kevin started his run off with a big grab. Although Kevin went bigger he only had 5 hits and his first hit wasn't as technical as Shaun's first hit. Judges came to the conclusion that Shaun deserved the better score because he started off with a more technical trick and he had 1 more hit than Kevin. He also won a gold medal in Slopestyle, finally winning gold after 2 straight years of bronze.

During February 2009, Red Bull started to build Shaun White a halfpipe in the back country of Colorado on the backside of Silverton Mountain. Red Bull brought in Snow Cats, and Pipe Augers to build the half pipe completely out of natural snow on one of the back country trails at Silverton. The project is completely visible from the ski area and the heavy machinery can be heard through the National Forest. In April 2009 Shaun White was on crutches due to a bone chip in his ankle, preventing him from boarding in preparation for the upcoming 2009 Dew Tour.[7]

[edit] Achievements, recognition and popular culture

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (May 2009)
  • Shaun White remains the only skater to land the body varial frontside 540 (The Armadillo).[8]
  • He was the first to land a Cab 7 Melon Grab in vert skateboarding.[9]
  • He was named the chairman of snowboarding on the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13, 2007.[10]
  • White starred in the 2005 snowboarding documentary First Descent.
  • White was one of the few pro snowboarders to be a guest editor of Snowboarder Magazine (Feb 2008 issue).[11]
  • The 2008 video game Shaun White Snowboarding is named after him, and the game was personally played and demonstrated by him at Nintendo's E3 2008 Press Conference.
  • In the March 2009 issue of Snowboarder Magazine he was named the 9th Best Snowboarder in the World.[12]
  • He was mentioned in the film Ocean's Thirteen.
  • A film, Don't Look Down has been released on DVD and ESPN. The film treks his journey through the year following his Olympic success. The soundtrack [13] for this film was scored by American Idol finalist Michael Johns, Rye Randa and Jeff Foxworth.
  • He is the first snowboarder to win back-to-back gold medals in the Winter X-Games Superpipe.
  • He is the first(and only)person to win both a Summer and Winter Dew Cup. [14]
  • He was named after Shaun Tompson, his dad's favorite pro surfer.
  • Shaun grew up in a family of five: Mom (Kathy), Dad (Roger), Sister (Kerri) and Brother (Jesse).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated: Double Ripper. July 7, 2003. Retrieved January 5, 2009
  2. ^ TTR World Tour Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour: Shaun White. 1 2006. Swatch TTR. 12 March 2008
  3. ^ Rolling Stone writer (2006)."Shaun White: Attack of the Flying Tomato" Rolling Stone (accessed July 12, 2006)
  4. ^ TTR World Tour CONGRATULATIONS SHAUN WHITE - 06/07 TTR WORLD SNOWBOARD TOUR CHAMPION. March 23, 2007
  5. ^ TTR World Tour CONGRATULATIONS SHAUN WHITE - 06/07 TTR WORLD SNOWBOARD TOUR CHAMPION. March 23, 2007
  6. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/sports/othersports/22snowboard.html?partner=rss&emc=rss Few Fresh Challengers for Top Women in the Halfpipe By MATT HIGGINS Published: March 21, 2009
  7. ^ Shaun White to swim with stingrays and conquer the Black PearlLA Times April 29, 2009
  8. ^ Biography.com Shaun White Biography. 2006. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
  9. ^ Transworld Snowboarding
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ http://snowboardermag.com/current_issue/february-08-on-sale-now/
  12. ^ http://www.snowboardermag.com/features/Best-Snowboarders-Of-2009-number-Shaun-White/
  13. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Look-Down/dp/B001P9LWAC/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2%5Dlink
  14. ^ [http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-
    • He is the first person to land a cab 1260 in a major Superpipe competition
    dew-tour21-2009feb21,0,1733945.story] LA Times Shaun-Dew Cup. Retrieved February 22, 2009

[edit] External links

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