Rider Profile - Freestyle snowboarding
Name: Shaun White
Hometown: Carlsbad, CA, USA
Home Mountain: Park City, UT, USA
Birthdate: 3 September 1986
Sponsors:
Red Bull, Burton, AT&T, Oakley, Target
He’s the man everyone’s got to beat in the Olympic halfpipe. Kate Mallord finds out how snowboarding’s biggest star is handling the pressure.
Ever since I was young, I've always had the same pressure. I kind of like it in a way...
“My Magnum move? It would have to be the double corks,” says Olympic gold medallist and halfpipe virtuoso Shaun White. A double cork is a 1080-degree rotation during which Shaun also inverts sideways twice while in the air. It's a trick that had never been done in a halfpipe until he pulled it out of the bag, and he does two back-to-back, out of each side of the pipe. This is one of a host of new moves Shaun has developed specially for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver this February. “
I have to name it. Some people are calling it the Double Eagle, perhaps I'll go with the White Snake,” suggests Shaun, chuckling. For although he has been a professional snowboarder since he was just 13 years old, and won every major competition his sport offers, Shaun doesn't take himself too seriously. He is to snowboarding in the US what David Beckham is to football over here, only far less glitzy - despite hailing from the glamorous state of California. Growing up in southern Cali, Shaun started snowboarding when he was six years old at Bear Mountain, picked up Burton as a sponsor six years later, and had his first shot at Olympic qualification at 15. He narrowly missed out, but now, age 23, he's the proud owner of a Games gold from the 2006 Olympics in Turin. He has also won 13 medals at the Winter X Games since 2002, and was named TT R World Snowboard Tour Champion in 2007.
As if that's not enough, during the hotter months he competes as a professional skateboarder in the vert event - similar to a halfpipe - and has won three Summer X Games medals (including one gold). He also finds time in his hectic schedule to provide ideas and voice-overs for his own video games, Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip and the latest release, Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage.
Despite all the sponsorship deals and the hundreds of pages and hours of film devoted to him by the media, Shaun claims that the pressure of being the yardstick for all other Olympic halfpipe competitors doesn't get to him. “The pressure is building very heavily,” he says. “I deal with it by having breaks from it. I'll go ride and train a lot, then I'll take a big break and go home. Then I'll go back to it. But ever since I was young, I've always had the same pressure. I kind of like it in a way. It's one of those things where I think if everyone is focused on me doing well and creating a lot of buzz, it's got to be for a reason, so I take it as a compliment. I think about all the support people are giving me instead of the pressure.”
The Olympics are a huge driving force for Shaun. “I'm so excited about this season. What other event is going to motivate you in such a way? I've learnt seven new tricks this season, when normally it's just one or two. It's extremely hard to motivate yourself into learning. You've got to have the right reasons and the Olympics have given me that.”
It's a testament to Shaun's dedication that his sponsors are fully committed to his progression - Red Bull even built him a private halfpipe in Silverton, Colorado, for February and March last year, so he could develop this new armoury of tricks, four of them never seen before. “It was unbelievable. They put a foam pit at the bottom which allowed me to learn brand new tricks. In the past, I would take a trick I'd seen someone else do and add a grab to make it better. The pipe was fun because I could create new ones. The foam pit was inspired by motocross riders who use them to practise doing double backflips. I could cram years of riding into one day.”
Having your own 168m-long pipe built in the wilds of Colorado may sound a bit spoilt movie star, but not everything was catered to Shaun's every whim. “For some reason, the woman who built the house we were staying in didn't believe in doors. There was a front door, but that was it. Throughout the house it was like man camp,” he says. “All the dudes would be cruising around with no shower doors or anything. It was pretty awkward as my room was connected to the bathroom, so I had a wonderful wake-up every morning with everyone going in there. They'd be in the shower saying, 'Hey Shaun, what's up?' You get to a point where you're almost too comfortable with your friends.”
Although his Silverton halfpipe has allowed Shaun to invent tricks never achieved in a halfpipe before, he knows that he has to watch the competition very carefully if he wants to top the podium at this year's Olympics. “It's still anyone's game at this point. The guys who I had in my mind to be doing the bigger and heavier tricks haven't been doing much. It's the younger guys and underdogs who are doing new stuff. It's definitely shifted up a level since the last contest, which I was blown away by at the time.”
The Olympics isn't only special to Shaun because it elevates his snowboarding to new heights - it also offers something different to other competitions. “Our sport is definitely an individual thing. I go up there [to competitions] and ride and do my tricks and it's all focused on what I'm doing, so it's not much of a team sport. But going to the Olympics is one of those things that brings everyone together. You feel a part of something bigger, which is nice.”
And then he adds with a smile, “Although it's definitely strange to be wearing something [your whole team] is wearing. But going through the [Olympic] village you really feel part of something. It's so much fun.” And what will he do if he wins another gold medal? Probably the same as he does with his current one - wear it “only on Saturdays, with my gold robe, and then watch my highlights”. He's joking, of course, but if you're going to put money on anyone strolling off with a gold at this year's Winter Olympics, Shaun White is definitely a good bet.
Photos: Swen Carlin/Red Bull Photofiles, Crispin Cannon/Red Bull Photofiles
