Shaun White is the Disappointment

Who holds the most pressure during these Olympics, one might say Shaun White. Shaun White was the most anticipated athlete of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. He was snowboarding for the US Olympic team, and is 27 years old. White was the only athlete to be participating in both the Halfpipe and the Slopestyle. During his training run at Slopestyle, White fell on of his landings, and hurt his wrist and back. He decided to drop out of the event because he wanted to focus on being the first ever male to win three straight gold medals in the Halfpipe. His decision created much controversy, and even sparked twitter remarks from other competitors’ immediately. Max Parrot, one of the competitors who was supposed to win gold in the Slopestyle, made this twitter comment, “Shaun knows he won’t be able to win the slopes, that’s why he pulled out. He’s scarred!” It is ironic that Max didn’t even get a medal on February 8 during the final round. Whether or not White was afraid to get hurt, it was clear that his decision was not well liked. 

                The Men’s Halfpipe Qualifications started on February 11 at 2:00 A.M. Pacific time. This competition was held at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park in Russia. The conditions of the Halfpipe were very hard to snowboard on because the snow was choppy. All of the competitors complained about this, and the crews worked hard to make the conditions better. Throughout the day, everyone was waiting for Shaun White to see what he had in store for the event. The biggest competitor for White was Iouri Podladtchikov who represented Switzerland. He created the “YOLO” trick that was as good as White’s McTwist. Starting with qualification, Shaun White dazzled the judges with his first run that included amazing rotations. He earned a score of 95.75 during his first run, and came in first during the qualification run. White got into the finals directly, while Iouri had to go through the semifinals to get to the finals.

                The finals of the Halfpipe started later in the night, and the spotlight surrounded Shaun White every second. Each snowboarder got 2 runs in the final round. White started off with a diverse amount of tricks but failed at the last second. The trick that he failed was a switch double 1440 because as he was landing he hit the top of the halfpipe and fell. From a spectator’s point of view, it looked as if Shaun bent the board in half, and broke his leg. After he fell, he did not seemed influenced by the failed run. His score was a 35.00 on his first run. On the other hand, Iouri landed his “YOLO” trick on his second run, and scored a 94.75. The pressure was now on White to land the run of his life. White’s run started off very well while landing a few hard tricks, but eventually the pressure got to him. His landings were very sloppy when he did a backside air 1080 with a double McTwist and a backside 1080, and Shaun nearly almost fell twice. Due to his messy landings, he only got a score of 90.25. This meant that Shaun White, who was expected to medal, only got fourth. Once Shaun saw the score, everyone got a picture of him hugging and congratulating Iouri. Shaun must have been disappointed by this score because he missed a medal by only two points. Two points could have been gained by White only if he landed his tricks better. After talking to reporters, Shaun seemed disappointed, but not very angry. He hinted that maybe he could return in four years, and take back his throne that he has earned in the past. Although Shaun might not be liked by other snowboarders, it is clear that Shaun does not change his personality to please others.