5 Curious Facts about Shaun White, 3-Time Olympic Champion in Snowboarding
At 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, American snowboarder Shaun White won his third gold Olympic medal and proved that he is the best snowboarder at the Olympic Games ever.
And interesting fact is that Shaun’s third medal became the 100th medal of Team USA at Winter Olympics Games. And here are 5 more curious facts about the snowboarder.
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Early Years
Shaun Roger White was born on September 3, 1986, in San Diego, California. He is of Irish and Italian descent. Shaun was named after surfer Shaun Tomson. When he was born, White was diagnosed with congenital heart defect and had to pass through 2 major surgeries within the first year of his life. In childhood, he first started to ski, but, at the age of 6, he switched to snowboarding. He mastered his skills at the ski resorts of Okemo and Bear Mountains.
Skateboarding
Besides being a snowboarder, Shaun is also a skateboarder. He won many titles, including the overall title of Action Sports Tour Champion.
Shaun White Poster
His Trademark Trick
Shaun, also known as “the Flying Tomato” due to his red hair, has his own trademark trick. It’s called sky-hook. With a stalefish grab on the board, he tweaks toward his backside and creates the shape of comma and rotates to 540 degrees. This trick was included into his Olympic runs.
Greatest Achievements
Shaun White has many records in his arsenal. Here are the most important ones:
- Shaun is the first person to compete and win both Summer and Winter X Games in two different sports.
- He won the most X-Games medals than any other snowboarder. White has earned 13 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals in snowboarding. Also, he has 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals in skateboarding.
- The athlete has won more Olympic gold medals than any other snowboarder. He gained gold in halfpipe at 2006, 2010 and 2018 Olympic Games.
- He won 10 ESPY Awards and 10 US Open medals.
Shaun White
- He is the first snowboarder to land back double corks at the Red Bull superpipe.
- Shaun is the only skater, who landed the frontside heelflip 540 body varial.
- He is the first snowboarder to win back-to-back gold medal in superpipe at Winter X Games.
- White is the first and only person to win both a Summer and Winter Dew cup.
- He was the first to “three-peat” in superpipe at the Winter X Games.
- The snowboarder holds the record for the highest score in men’s halfpipe at the Winter Olympic Games. At 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, he gained 48.4 points.
Acting and Music Career
Shaun White is a guitarist of electronic rock band “Bad Things”. Moreover, he tried his hand at acting and appeared in 2011 movie “Friends with Benefits”, 2013 “Da Flippity Flop” episode of “American Dad!” and 2014 “Cloud 9”.
