christine Posted February 21, 2010 Posted February 21, 2010 Shaun Roger White (born September 3, 1986) is an American professional snowboarder and skateboarder. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. He rides regular stance, twelve and negative three degrees on his board.[1] He is known for his shock of red hair, for which he has become known as "Animal" and "The Flying Tomato". Personal life White was born with a Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect for which he endured two open-heart operations before the age of one.[2] He stands 5'8" (1.73 m) tall. He spent his formative years riding Okemo Mountain and Bear Mountain, small ski resorts found in Ludlow, Vermont, and the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. Addressing his perception of the nickname "The Flying Tomato", paneramagazine wrote, "he used to embrace it, even wearing headbands with a flying-tomato logo, but he has grown tired of it."[3] During February 2009, Red Bull built White a halfpipe completely out of natural snow in the back country of Colorado on the backside of Silverton Mountain. Snowboarding career White has participated in two Winter Olympics in his career. At both the 2006 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics, White won gold in the halfpipe. White has also participated in the Winter X Games, where he has won a medal every year since 2002. Including all winter X Games competitions through 2009, his medal count stands at 14 (9 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze), including the first four-peat winner by a male athlete in one discipline, the snowboard slopestyle. White's streak was snapped in 2007 when he lost to Andreas Wiig and Jussi Oksanen, with White taking the bronze. He won the Air & Style Contest in 2003 and 2004. 2006 Winter Olympics See also: Snowboarding at the 2006 Winter Olympics and 2006 Winter Olympics At the 2006 Winter Olympics, White won gold in the halfpipe.[4] After his first run in qualifications, White was almost out of competition, scoring only 37.7. On his second run, he recorded a score of 45.3. In the finals, White recorded a score of 46.8 (50 is the highest possible score) to win. Fellow American Danny Kass won the silver with a points total of 44.0.[5] 2008 Executing a near-flawless second run, White captured his third consecutive halfpipe title at the 2008 U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships to go along with his third US Open slopestyle competition. This followed White's win at the 25th (2007) Burton US Open, where he placed third in slopestlyle and first in the halfpipe. At the 2007 Open, White was also crowned the first "Burton Global Open Champion". His take for the event was $100,000 (Global Open Champ), $20,000 (1st Place Halfpipe), $90,000 (3rd Place Slopestyle), and a new Corvette. 2009 There was a lot of controversy over who won the 2009 SuperPipe at Winter X Games XIII. Kevin Pearce had 5 hits in the pipe and all were the same tricks White did in his final run. White, on the other hand, had 6 hits and he started off his run with a big backside rodeo 540 where Pearce started his run off with a big grab. Although Pearce went bigger he only had 5 hits and his first hit wasn't as technical as White's first hit. Judges came to the conclusion that White deserved the better score because he started off with a more technical trick and he had 1 more hit than Pearce. With the win, White became the second competitor, after Tanner Hall, to win a gold medal in the superpipe in consecutive years at the Winter X Games. He also won a gold medal in Slopestyle, finally winning gold after 2 straight years of bronze. On February 14, 2009, White won the FIS World Cup Men's Halfpipe event at Vancouver's Cypress Mountain. Out of the gate in his first qualifying run, he qualified immediately with the day's best score of 45.5. With a thumb sprained on an over-rotated backside 1080 in the second qualifying run, he clinched the event with the first of his two runs in the finals. His first finals run was awarded the highest score ever in FIS halfpipe, a 47.3. 2010 Winter Olympics See also: Snowboarding at the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, White again won gold in the halfpipe.[6] In the finals, White recorded a score of 46.8 on his first run, which proved a high enough score to secure the gold medal without a second run. He performed his second run anyway, ending his run with a Double McTwist 1260.[7] This second run resulted in a record score of 48.4 (50 is the highest possible score) enlarging his margin of victory. His nearest competitor won the silver with a points total of 45.0, 3.4 behind White.[8] Athletic achievements White is the first snowboarder ever to land back to back double corks, at the Red Bull superpipe. White remains the only skater to land the body varial frontside 540 (The Armadillo).[9] He was the first to land a Cab 7 Melon Grab in vert skateboarding. He is the first snowboarder to win back-to-back gold medals in the Winter X-Games Superpipe. He is the first (and only) person to win both a Summer and Winter Dew Cup.[10] White is the first to "three-peat" in SuperPipe at the Winter X Games. Shaun White holds the record for the highest score in the men's halfpipe at the winter olympics. In 2006, his 46.8 points bested Ross Powers' previous record of 46.1 from 2002. In 2010, during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, he improved his own record with 48.4 points in his final run. Non-competition awards and accolades White was named the "chairman of snowboarding" on the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13, 2007.[11] In the March 2009 issue of Snowboarder Magazine, he was named the ninth-best snowboarder in the World.[12] He won the Revolver Golden God Award for "Most Metal Athlete". Won the "His Flow is Gold" award in 2007. White has won TransWorld SNOWboarding Rider Of The Year twice.[13] Endorsements White's corporate endorsement deals include Burton Snowboards, Oakley, Inc., Birdhouse Skateboards, Park City Mountain Resort, Target Corporation, Red Bull, Adio and Hewlett-Packard. White also has his own character on the game Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder as well as the video game Shaun White Snowboarding. In 2009, Forbes magazine estimated that he had earned $9 million from his endorsements in 2008.[14] Media appearances He had his first published interview in TransWorld SNOWboarding Magazine in 2003.[15] White starred in the 2005 snowboarding documentary First Descent. White was one of the few pro snowboarders to be a guest editor of Snowboarder Magazine (February 2008 issue).[16] The 2008 video game Shaun White Snowboarding is named after him, and the game was personally played and demonstrated by him at Nintendo's E3 2008 Press Conference. A film, Don't Look Down has been released on DVD and ESPN. The film tracks his journey through the year following his Olympic success. White was on the cover for The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition.[17] References 1.^ TTR World Tour Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour: Shaun White, 1 2006. Swatch TTR, March, 12 2008 2.^ Official Site of Shaun White 3.^ Rolling Stone writer (2006)."Shaun White: Attack of the Flying Tomato" Rolling Stone (accessed July 12, 2006) 4.^ "Shaun White Wins Gold Medal". February 12, 2006. http://www.snowboarding.com/events/2006/gold.html. Retrieved February 17, 2010. 5.^ Sal Ruibal (February 12, 2006). "White a gold winner in halfpipe, Kass is second". USA TODAY. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/to...ld-winner_x.htm. Retrieved February 17, 2010. 6.^ "White defends men's halfpipe title". Associated Press. February 17, 2010. http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/winter/...tory?id=4923369. Retrieved February 17, 2010. 7.^ JOHN BRANCH (February 12, 2006). "White Takes Gold in Snowboard Halfpipe". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/sports/o...8snowboard.html. Retrieved February 17, 2010. 8.^ Shaun White proves he's still the best snowboarder in the world Yahoo! Sports, February 17, 2010 9.^ Biography.com Shaun White Biography, 2006; Retrieved February 5, 2009. 10.^ Shaun White wins slopestyle Dew Cup LA Times, February 21, 2009; Retrieved February 22, 2009 11.^ All Headline News[dead link] 12.^ Best Snowboarders Of 2009: #9 Shaun White Snowboarder Magazine 13.^ History Of The Riders’ Poll Awards Transworld Snowboarding, January 25, 2009 14.^ The Highest-Paid Action Sports Stars, Kurt Badenhausen, Forbes, February 18, 2009 15.^ The Shaun White Interview Transworld Snowboarding, October 7, 2003 16.^ SNOWBOARDER Magazine February 2008 Volume 20.7 Shaun White Guest Editor Issue: ON SALE NOW Snowboarder Magazine, February 2008 17.^ Wallechinsky, David; Jaime Loucky (October 2009). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition. Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1845134914. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Winter...7854&sr=1-1. External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Shaun White Shaun White at the International Ski Federation Official Site of Shaun White, check out photos, videos and blogs Red Bull's Secret Halfpipe, check out all the new tricks! TTR World Snowboard Tour Rider Profile, current standing in the world ranking with contest results TransWorld SNOWboarding Magazine, complete coverage, interviews, and photos of Shaun White from age 14 on (2000–) Snowboardermag.com, includes exclusive interviews and video clips of Shaun White Shaun White at the Internet Movie Database Shaun White's U.S. Olympic Team bio with notes, quotes, photos ESPN Action Sports in defense of Shaun White Posts tagged 'Shaun White' on SuperStoker AP Winter Games Athlete Profile: Shaun White Associated Press: White's showstopper caps second Olympic gold Associated Press: Inside the Rings: Shaun White blazes trails [show]v • d • e Quote
christine Posted February 21, 2010 Author Posted February 21, 2010 does anyone like shaun white? Quote
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