Athlete Bios
Snowboarding
White continues to push the boundaries
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | 10:15 AM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
American snowboarder Shaun White is the reigning Olympic halfpipe champion. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)As snowboarding has evolved into the glamour event of the Games, attractive to young viewers and the sponsors who covet them, no snowboarder can match Shaun White's star power.
White, the reigning Olympic halfpipe champion, has managed a perfect mix of marketing appeal. He is generally regarded as the best competitive snowboarder in the world, fending off younger competitors by continually pushing the boundaries of airborne tricks. He has his own video game and a clothing collection at Target.
Red Bull built him a 22-foot halfpipe near Silverton, Colo., last spring to help him prepare for this season. He has crossover appeal as a skateboarder, and is believed to earn about $9 million US per year, mostly in endorsements.
He exudes California cool (he was born and raised in Carlsbad, north of San Diego), and is a regular guest on talk shows and at Hollywood parties.
And there is that hair. A frizzy, shoulder-length mop of burnt red, it might just be the most famous hairdo in sports. While he has slowly shed an early nickname, the Flying Tomato, he has not shed the look. At Halloween, White pulled his locks into pigtails and dressed as Wendy, the freckled mascot of the fast-food chain.
White, 23, has won just about every major championship there is to win in snowboarding's fractured world of professional touring, personifying the sport's era of commercial success in the process. He has dominated the X Games like no other, winning the superpipe competition three of the last four years while habitually winning the slopestyle event (a sort of snowboarding obstacle course), too.
White took first place at the United States Snowboarding Grand Prix in Copper Mountain, Colo., in December, the first of five Olympic qualifying events for the American team.
"He is not only riding better than ever, but he is more focused than ever, working harder than ever, which is scary for his competitors to see that and to realize that," the national team's halfpipe coach, Mike Jankowski, said. "I've never seen the focus like this with Shaun."
White has managed to stay atop the sport because of his dedication to improving it. He is credited with creating many of the tricks that have become familiar in the halfpipe. His most recent, honed at his private halfpipe near Silverton, is the double cork, a combination of spins and off-axis flips. The trick will generate much of the buzz at the halfpipe competition at Cypress Mountain during the Olympics.
White unveiled the double cork at an event in New Zealand last summer. Since then, his competitors have been trying to add it to their routines.
