Shaun White may not have invented snowboarding, but he’s going a long way toward perfecting it. The multi-medaled Olympian and X-Games Golden Boy has competed in five Summer X events and 11 of the winter variety. And by competed, of course, I mean… well, is there a stronger word for “domination”? It doesn’t seem to do justice.
He’s the first athlete to win gold medals four years in a row—and he did it twice. With the exception of 2007, White struck Winter X gold every year since 2003 in either Slopestyle or Superpipe. Some times, just to mix it up, Ginger Jesus won both events, like in 2003, 2006 and 2009.
Do you prep differently for Summer and Winter X Games? There is definitely a difference in riding. When I’m on my skateboard, I’m not strapped in, so it’s so much harder to get back up to the same level after I’m done snowboarding. Fortunately, you use a lot of the same muscles so I can keep my strength up, but it’s much harder to skate.
This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2012.
