Emotional Shaun White says goodbye to snowboarding

The greatest snowboarding career the world has ever seen came to an end on Friday as Shaun White slid down the halfpipe at Zhangjiakou's Genting Snow Park.

Sitting in fourth, White had to do something big in his final run to make the medal podium. He had put down two solid runs despite a knee injury making it hard to hold his edge, but when he attempted his second double cork 1440, he clipped the edge of the halfpipe and slid down the side wall.

It didn't take long for the emotions to set in as he rode down the halfpipe one final time. Afterward, he struggled to hold the tears back as he reflected on his illustrious career.

"It's been everything, it's been wild," White told reporters afterward. "I'm not sad, I'm just kind of in awe looking at this entire lifetime in this sport. I love this sport so much, even the awful moments."

Ayumu Hirano of Japan earned the gold, hitting the first triple cork in competition on his second and third runs. Australia's Scotty James took the silver, with Switzerland's Jan Scherrer winning bronze.

White admitted that he probably wouldn't have been satisfied with anything but gold himself, saying "it's just the competitor in me."

"It was harsh to fall on that run and not just nail it, pop onto the podium," White said. "But if I got third, I would've wanted second, and if I got second, I would've wanted more.

"I'm happy to come here and ride the pipe and be a part of this sport. I think I've earned that."

From misunderstood to the big time

White shared the story of getting his first snowboard, how he ran home from school everyday for four days asking his mom, "Is it here?"

"And one day she burst into the classroom with the board in her hand and I was like beside myself," he said. "She interrupted everyone just to give me my board."

That kid went on to earn gold medals in three of the five Winter Olympics in which he took part, beginning with Turin in 2006 — "not bad," he said. But more than that, he seemed proud simply to compete at all and push the sport into the spotlight.

"I had something to prove, and my sport was pretty misunderstood," White said. "Everyone thought I wasn't going to amount to much in my life, in my career. And to feel this need to prove something and to do it over and over and over, I'm just so proud of that. Every step of the way."

The steps it took to get to this Olympics weren't easy. Injuries and a COVID-19 infection almost jeopardized his qualification, which finally came at an event in Switzerland. A fall on his first run in qualification nearly led to an early retirement before he put down the run he needed to get to the final.

"The last few months have been wild," White said, when DW asked to describe his lead-up to the Olympics. "And the thought I keep having is this is the last time I'll be here doing this specific thing."

White's 'unbelievable' impact

To White, his impact on the sport is clear.

"Everybody kind of thought I wasn’t really going to amount to much in my lifetime, in my career. Everybody's been asking me what my legacy in this sport has been. And I’m like, You're watching it," he said.

"These youngsters, they've been on my heels every step of the way, and to see them finally surpass me is, I think deep down, what I always wanted."

But White seems also glad that his career is over, and his retirement comes with some relief.

"It's hard to wake up every day since you were a kid and go like 'Wow, I'm going to do something very scary today and hope I'm OK,'" White said.

After finishing his final run, every team and every fan in attendance gave him a two-minute round of applause. The snowboarders he competed with have looked up to him for years, and have all been touched by him.

"The guy is honestly unbelievable. I have so much respect for him as an athlete and as a snowboarder," silver medalist Scotty James said. "It's almost been a funny evolution from him being someone I've looked up to to someone I had to show up and beat."

"He means a lot, obviously," bronze medalist Scherrer added. "Everybody in this competition grew up watching him riding the halfpipe and looked up to him for a very long time."

In retirement, White mentioned his desire to start a family, to grow his brand Whitespace with his brother and to potentially sponsor future snowboarders. He mentioned giving recently retired US quarterback Tom Brady a call and asking him what he's up to. But White definitely wants to keep his connection with the extreme sport he helped grow into a mainstream Olympic sport.

"I would be honored to get that phone call from whoever and be a part of this sport in a way that has given me so much," White said.

Edited by: Janek Speight