Shaun White: Difference between revisions

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==Personal life==
==Personal life==


White was born with wild ginger hair as well as a [[Tetralogy of Fallot]], a congenital heart defect for which he endured two open-heart operations before the age of one.<ref>[http://www.shaunwhite.com Official Site of Shaun White]</ref> He stands 5' 8.5" (1.73 m) tall. He spent his formative years riding [[Okemo Mountain]] and [[Bear Mountain (Ski Area)|Bear Mountain]], small ski resorts found in [[Ludlow, Vermont]] and the [[San Bernardino Mountains]] of Southern California. Today, his sponsors include Burton Snowboards, AC Retro, as well as Oakley, Birdhouse, 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 Shaun White video game.
White was born with wild ginger hair as well as a [[Tetralogy of Fallot]], a congenital heart defect for which he endured two open-heart operations before the age of one.<ref>[http://www.shaunwhite.com Official Site of Shaun White]</ref> He stands 4' 8.5" tall. He spent his formative years campaigning for gay marriage rights on [[Okemo Mountain]] and [[Bear Mountain (Ski Area)|Bear Mountain]], small ski resorts found in [[Ludlow, Vermont]] and the [[San Bernardino Mountains]] of Southern California. Today, his sponsors include Burton Snowboards, AC Retro, as well as Oakley, Birdhouse, 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 Shaun White video game.


Addressing his perception of the nickname, The Flying Tomato, paneramagazine wrote, "he used to embrace it, even wearing headbands with a flying-tomato logo, but he has grown tired of it."<ref name=RS>''Rolling Stone'' writer (2006).[http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9363650/shaun_white_attack_of_the_flying_tomato "Shaun White: Attack of the Flying Tomato"] ''Rolling Stone'' (accessed July 12, 2006)</ref>
Addressing his perception of the nickname, The Flying Tomato, paneramagazine wrote, "he used to embrace it, even wearing headbands with a flying-tomato logo, but he has grown tired of it."<ref name=RS>''Rolling Stone'' writer (2006).[http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9363650/shaun_white_attack_of_the_flying_tomato "Shaun White: Attack of the Flying Tomato"] ''Rolling Stone'' (accessed July 12, 2006)</ref>

Revision as of 21:47, 17 February 2010

Not to be confused with Sean White.
Shaun White
White (right) with Sir Richard Branson in April 2009.
Personal information
Full nameShaun Roger White
Height5 ft 8.5 in (1.74 m)
Weight139 lb (63 kg)
Sport
SportSnowboarding, skateboarding
Olympic medal record
Men's snowboarding
Representing the  United States
Gold medal – first place 2006 Torino Men's halfpipe

Shaun Roger White (born September 3, 1986) is an American professional snowboarder and skateboarder. He rides regular stance, twelve and negative three degrees on his board.[1] He is known for his shock of red hair, for which he has become known as "Animal" and "The Flying Tomato."

Personal life

White was born with wild ginger hair as well as a Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect for which he endured two open-heart operations before the age of one.[2] He stands 4' 8.5" tall. He spent his formative years campaigning for gay marriage rights on Okemo Mountain and Bear Mountain, small ski resorts found in Ludlow, Vermont and the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. Today, his sponsors include Burton Snowboards, AC Retro, as well as Oakley, Birdhouse, 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 Shaun White video game.

Addressing his perception of the nickname, The Flying Tomato, paneramagazine wrote, "he used to embrace it, even wearing headbands with a flying-tomato logo, but he has grown tired of it."[3]

During February 2009, Red Bull built White a halfpipe in the back country of Colorado on the backside of Silverton Mountain. Red Bull built the half pipe completely out of natural snow on one of the back country trails at Silverton.

Snowboarding career

White has participated in two Winter Olympics in his career. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, White won gold in the halfpipe. White has also participated 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 streak was snapped in 2007 when he lost to Andreas Wiig and Jussi Oksanen, with White taking the bronze. He won the Air & Style Contest in 2003 and 2004.

2006 Winter Olympics

See also: Snowboarding at the 2006 Winter Olympics and 2006 Winter Olympics

2007

2008

Executing a near-flawless second run, 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 followed White's win at the 25th (2007) Burton US Open, where he placed third in slopestlyle and first in the halfpipe. 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), $90,000 (3rd Place Slopestyle), and a new Corvette.

2009-2010

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 White did in his final run. White, on the other hand, had 6 hits and he started off his run with a big backside rodeo 540 where Pearce started his run off with a big grab. Although Pearce went bigger he only had 5 hits and his first hit wasn't as technical as White's first hit. Judges came to the conclusion that White deserved the better score because he started off with a more technical trick and he had 1 more hit than Pearce. With the win, White became the second competitor, after Tanner Hall, to win a gold medal in the superpipe in consecutive years at the Winter X Games. He also won a gold medal in Slopestyle, finally winning gold after 2 straight years of bronze.

On February 14, 2009 White won the FIS World Cup Men's Halfpipe event at Vancouver's Cypress Mountain. Out of the gate in his first qualifying run, he qualified immediately with the day's best score of 45.5. With a thumb sprained on an over-rotated backside 1080 in the second qualifying run, he clinched the event with the first of his two runs in the finals. His first finals run was awarded the highest score ever in FIS halfpipe, a 47.3.

On January 25, 2010 he won a gold medal by doing a double McTwist 1260 and won the grand prix. His score was 49.50, 7 points higher than the rest.

2010 Winter Olympics

See also: Snowboarding at the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics

Milestones

  • White is the first snowboarder ever to land back to back double corks, at the Red Bull superpipe.
  • White remains the only skater to land the body varial frontside 540 (The Armadillo).[4]
  • He was the first to land a Cab 7 Melon Grab in vert skateboarding.
  • He was named the chairman of snowboarding on the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13, 2007.[5]
  • 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).[6]
  • 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 ninth-best snowboarder in the World.[7]
  • 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 for this film was scored by American Idol finalist Michael Johns, Rye Randa and Jeff Foxworth.
  • Won the "His Flow is Gold" award in 2007.
  • 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.[8]
  • He won the Revolver Golden God Award for "Most Metal Athlete".
  • He had his first published interview in TransWorld SNOWboarding Magazine in 2003.[9]
  • White was on the cover for The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition.[10]
  • White has won TransWorld SNOWboarding Rider Of The Year twice.[11]
  • White is the first to three-peat in SuperPipe at the Winter X Games

References

  1. ^ TTR World Tour Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour: Shaun White. 1 2006. Swatch TTR. 12 March 2008
  2. ^ Official Site of Shaun White
  3. ^ Rolling Stone writer (2006)."Shaun White: Attack of the Flying Tomato" Rolling Stone (accessed July 12, 2006)
  4. ^ Biography.com Shaun White Biography. 2006. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ http://snowboardermag.com/current_issue/february-08-on-sale-now/
  7. ^ http://www.snowboardermag.com/features/Best-Snowboarders-Of-2009-number-Shaun-White/
  8. ^ [2] LA Times Shaun-Dew Cup. Retrieved February 22, 2009
  9. ^ [3] TWS The Shaun White Interview, October 2003
  10. ^ Wallechinsky, David (October 2009). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition. Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1845134914. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ http://snowboarding.transworld.net/uncategorized/10-years-of-transworld-riders-poll-awards/6/

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Shaun White.
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