Shaun White has spent almost half of his life competing in the Olympics. When the snowboarder participated in his first Winter Olympics in 2006, he was only 19 years old.
The 35-year-old will now compete in the men’s halfpipe competition in Beijing on Thursday for the fifth and last time.
And most recently, he told CNBC Make It that while mental health is no longer taboo, the experience of being a top athlete has notably changed over the past 16 years.
White, a three-time gold medallist at the Olympics, has undoubtedly gone through all the highs and lows of being a professional athlete.
He has struggled with a number of wounds, including a severe accident in 2018 in which he banged his head against the top of a superpipe and required 62 stitches to his face.
He was also accused of sexual harassment in 2016, which were resolved out of court for an unknown fee a year later.
Shaun White Withdraws from Slopestyle Event at 2014 Winter Olympics
Shaun White, an American snowboarder, was expected to win a medal in the new slopestyle event in Sochi.
After winning gold in the halfpipe snowboarding competition in each of the previous two Olympics.
Unfortunately for snowboarding enthusiasts, White has chosen to stop competing in slopestyle.
White withdrew out of slopestyle to increase his chances of winning gold in the halfpipe, albeit it wasn’t an easy decision for him to make, according to Nick Zaccardi of NBCOlympics.com.
Shaun White Fails to Medal in Sochi: Is This the End for Snowboarding Superstar?
The goal was for snowboarding’s leading man, Shaun White, to depart Sochi with two gold medals.
He was set to become the first Olympic slopestyle snowboarding champion and write Olympic history by capturing his third consecutive halfpipe gold.
Instead, White is leaving empty-handed after abruptly withdrawing from the slopestyle event and placing fourth in the halfpipe on Tuesday.
This was meant to be the Olympics that solidified White’s reputation. Instead, Shaun White the snowboarder might be done for good.
It suddenly seems possible that he has lost his place in the sport he helped popularise.
Conclusion
One of the most decorated snowboarders in the sport’s history is the 27-year-old White. He has 13 Winter X Games gold medals to his name in addition to two halfpipe Olympic golds.
Although he won five of those gold medals in slopestyle, he has recently given much more attention to halfpipe.
White did place third in slopestyle at the 2014 Snowboard World Cup, putting him in medal contention in Sochi, though he was far from a lock.
