Shaun White

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Olympic Men's Snowboarding
Olympic medal record
Gold	2006 Turino	Men's Halfpipe
X Games Medal Record
Men's Snowboarding
Silver	2002	Slopestyle
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
Men's Skateboarding
Silver	2005	Vert

Shaun Roger White (born September 3, 1986 in San Diego, California) is an American professional snowboarder and skateboarder based in Carlsbad, California. White has accumulated an accomplished competition record in both sports and has appeared in a number of media programs and video games. He has been a notable competitor in the extreme-sports community since he was about twelve years old.

White stands 5' 8.5" (1.73 m) tall. He rides regular stance, twelve and negative three degrees on his snowboard.^{[citation needed]} He is known for his shock of red hair, for which he has become known as "The Flying Tomato," or Il Pomodoro Volante in Italy where he is also popular. 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."^[1] Early in his career he was also known as "The Egg" & "Future Boy" as eveyone knew he had promise, but just hadn't grown enough to boost airs as big as the older competitors. At the 2007 US Open, held at Stratton Mountain, Vermont he earned the new nickname "The Animal" for his striking resemblance to the Muppet of the same name. It was unclear at the event if he liked or disliked the new nickname.

1 Early life
2 Snowboarding career
3 Skateboarding career
4 Media and business ventures
5 Trivia
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Early life

White was born with a congenital heart defect known as tetralogy of Fallot,^[2] and had two cardiac surgeries before the age of 5. White's older brother, Jesse, got into skateboarding at the nearby Encinitas YMCA, which housed many vert ramps. Eager to follow, Shaun also learned to skateboard.^[3]

White first began snowboarding at the age of 6. He went to June Mountain in California with his family, and his older brother tried his hand at snowboarding, too. Again, Shaun soon followed, but was told that he was too young to take snowboarding lessons. In order to slow White down, his mother told him that he could only board backwards, or switch. This actually furthered his career by forcing him to be skilled at both boarding methods.

[edit] Snowboarding career

White waiting for his results following his first run at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

White soon gained sponsorship from Burton after his mother phoned them to see if they had a board small enough for her 6-year-old son. Today, his sponsors include Burton, as well as Oakley, T-mobile, R.E.D., Volcom, Birdhouse Skateboards, Ricta, Park City Resort, Target, Red Bull, Transworld Snowboarding, Adio, Sony PlayStation, Mountain Dew and HP.

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 2007, his medal count stands at 10 (6 gold, 3 silver, 1 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. At the conclusion of the 2007 Winter X Games, White also stood as one of three athletes who have won a leading six gold medals in their total Winter X competitive history.

White also earned a gold medal in the men’s halfpipe while representing the United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics. He scored a 46.8 out of 50 on his first run. The score was not beaten by any other boarder in the first or second run, ensuring him the gold before his final run.

White had a dramatic win at the 25th Annual Burton US Open, March 13-18th, 2007 at Stratton Mtn in Vermont, USA. There 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 "Male Burton Global Open Champion" All in all it was a profitable weekend: Global Open Champ: $100,000 1st Place Halfpipe: $20,000 3rd Place Slopestyle $5,000 And he also won a new Volvo.

[edit] Skateboarding career

Shaun White has been working with Tony Hawk since an early age and derives his inspiration from him and many other vert skaters. Hawk first met with Shaun at the age of nine while snowboarding, and mentored him at the Encinitas YMCA Skate Park, close to both of their family homes in neighboring Carlsbad.

Shaun went pro in 2003 at the age of 16, and won his first pro contest in 2005 at the Panasonic Open in Louisville, KY (the 1st stop of the Dew Action Sports Tour). He also won a silver medal for the men's vert in the 2005 Summer X Games.

At the 2005 and 2006 X Games, Shaun attempted the 1080 (3 full rotations, half a rotation more than a 900). He is the only skater to attempt the trick in competition, but has yet to land it.

[edit] Media and business ventures

Recently, White's movie, The White Album (a nod to the eponymous album by The Beatles), a snowboarding and skateboarding movie, debuted. The 2006 film First Descent features the 2006 Winter Olympics Gold Medal winner alongside the 2006 Olympic women's champion Hannah Teter and other top snowboarders, as they take on untouched wild mountain powder on the slopes in Alaska.

He has also started his own clothing line in partnership with Burton called "The White Collection."

White has appeared as himself in the Rocket Power special "The Big Day," playing the moderator of a skating contest, where the winner would get to train with him for two weeks. White also appeared on MTV's Punk'd on his 19th birthday in 2005.

White also has been a part of Pepsi's Dew Action Sports Tour, and in November 2004 was the Grand Marshal for NASCAR's fourth leg of the Grand Slam, the Mountain Dew Southern 500 in Darlington, SC. He has also appeared in Sony's commercial for the PSP.

[edit] Trivia

Nicknames: "Senor Blanco" (Mister White), "Future Boy", "Egg", and "The Flying Tomato" (referencing his distinctively red hair)
Shaun's favorite book is Lord of the Flies.
Shaun's favorite non-sports pastime is playing the board game Monopoly.
Shaun turned pro-snowboarder at the age of 13.
He started skateboarding professionally at 16.
Shaun rides regular stance, twelve and negative three degrees on his snowboard.
Shaun remains the only skater to land the bodyvarial frontside 540.
Shaun earned a gold medal in the men’s halfpipe for the United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics, scoring a 46.8 out of 50 on his first run.

[edit] Notes

^ Rolling Stone writer (2006). "Shaun White: Attack of the Flying Tomato" Rolling Stone (accessed July 12, 2006)
^ (2006). Shaun White BIO NBCOlympics.com (accessed July 31, 2006)
^ Cave, Steve (2006). Shaun White Profile About.com (accessed July 13, 2006)