As Shaun White prepares to compete at his fifth – and he says – final Olympic Games in Beijing, China, the 35-year-old has nothing left to prove.
Snowboard half pipe has been held at six Olympic Games, having made its debut at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. White owns half of the all-time gold medals in the event, as he claimed the title at the 2006 Torino Games, the 2010 Vancouver Games and the 2018 PyeongChang Games.
He missed the podium, barely, in 2014 in Sochi, where he finished fourth.
White’s performance at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang set the all-time scoring record for men’s half pipe (97.75 for his second run).
Away from the Olympic Games, White has also made history. He owns 18 medals from the Winter X Games, including 13 golds. He’s also won five gold medals at the summer X Games in skateboarding (two gold, two silver and a bronze), making him the first athlete to compete in and medal at both the X Games and the Winter X Games.
His excellence has been recognised by others, of course, as he collected 10 ESPY awards over this career for Best Male Action Sports Athlete and Best Male U.S. Olympic athlete.