Miami Herald Logo

Shaun White says no to slopestyle after wrist injury | Miami Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Site Information
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Herald Store
    • RSS Feeds
    • Special Sections
    • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Mobile
    • Mobile Apps & eReaders
    • Newsletters
    • Social
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • YouTube

    • Sections
    • News
    • South Florida
    • Miami-Dade
    • Broward
    • Florida Keys
    • Florida
    • Politics
    • Weird News
    • Weather
    • National & World
    • Colombia
    • National
    • World
    • Americas
    • Cuba
    • Guantánamo
    • Haiti
    • Venezuela
    • Local Issues
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • In Depth
    • Issues & Ideas
    • Traffic
    • Sections
    • Sports
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Pro & College
    • Miami Dolphins
    • Miami Heat
    • Miami Marlins
    • Florida Panthers
    • College Sports
    • University of Miami
    • Florida International
    • University of Florida
    • Florida State University
    • More Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Fighting
    • Golf
    • Horse Racing
    • Outdoors
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Youth Sports
    • Other Sports
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The Florida Influencer Series
    • Sections
    • Business
    • Business Monday
    • Banking
    • International Business
    • National Business
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate News
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Tourism & Cruises
    • Workplace
    • Business Plan Challenge
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Cindy Krischer Goodman
    • The Starting Gate
    • Work/Life Balancing Act
    • Movers
    • Sections
    • Living
    • Advice
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Recipes
    • Travel
    • Wine
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dave Barry
    • Ana Veciana-Suarez
    • Flashback Miami
    • More Living
    • LGBTQ South Florida
    • Palette Magazine
    • Indulge Magazine
    • South Florida Album
    • Broward Album
    • Sections
    • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Movies
    • Music & Nightlife
    • People
    • Performing Arts
    • Restaurants
    • TV
    • Visual Arts
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Jose Lambiet
    • Lesley Abravanel
    • More Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Miami.com
    • Contests & Promotions
    • Sections
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Op-Ed
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Jim Morin
    • Letters to the Editor
    • From Our Inbox
    • Speak Up
    • Submit a Letter
    • Meet the Editorial Board
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Blog Directory
    • Columnist Directory
    • Andres Oppenheimer
    • Carl Hiaasen
    • Leonard Pitts Jr.
    • Fabiola Santiago
    • Obituaries
    • Obituaries in the News
    • Place an Obituary

    • Place an ad
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Apartments
    • Auctions/Sales
    • Automotive
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Employment
    • Garage Sales
    • Legals
    • Merchandise
    • Obituaries
    • Pets
    • Public Notices
    • Real Estate
    • Services
  • Public Notices
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Real Estate
  • Mobile & Apps

  • el Nuevo Herald
  • Miami.com
  • Indulge

Olympics

Shaun White says no to slopestyle after wrist injury

By Linda Robertson

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 06, 2014 12:01 AM

When Shaun White declared he was withdrawing from the Sochi Olympic slopestyle snowboarding competition because the course is too dangerous, his critics in the sport scoffed and said White has become conservative in his old age.

But what White really decided was to cut his losses and protect his brand. He played it savvy — not usually an admired attribute in the go-for-the-gusto snowboarding subculture.

So fans and opponents will be denied the sight of White riding rails and catapulting off jumps, but the halfpipe maestro will preserve his superior shot at a third consecutive gold medal in the event he has made into his trademark.

White is no longer known as the “Flying Tomato.” He cut his Bozo-length red hair, cleaned up his off-snow reputation and became CEO of his apparel, equipment and endorsement empire, Shaun White Enterprises.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

White is no longer the teen snowboarding and skateboarding phenom who popularized the X Games and an accompanying lifestyle best summarized as, Stay Stoked!

White is 27, seriously grown up in snowboarding years. His biggest rivals are Mark McMorris, 20, and Ayumu Hirano, 15. He recently bought a $9 million house in Malibu, Calif. He wears a Target logo to promote his clothing line. He staged his announcement about bypassing slopestyle on the Today show. How square is that?

White, in fact, made anti-establishment snowboarding into a mainstream sport. The International Olympic Committee might ask him to do the same for skateboarding. The IOC is so pleased with the White demographic that new extreme sports were added in time for Sochi, including slopestyle and halfpipe skiing.

White was to be a big attraction in his quest for double gold at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. But on Wednesday he said he would skip Saturday’s slopestyle debut to concentrate on Tuesday’s halfpipe final, which he won in 2006 and 2010. He could become the first American male to win the same event in three consecutive Winter Games. There is much anticipation about the latest twist to his halfpipe routine — a frontside double-cork 1440 that adds an extra half revolution to the two flips of the Double McTwist 1260 he performed in Vancouver.

After jamming his wrist Tuesday on a fall on one of the steep takeoff ramps and observing other athletes’ wipeouts (Norway’s Torstein Horgmo broke a collarbone and Finn Marika Enne was treated for a concussion) on the challenging slopestyle course, White withdrew, prompting criticism that he was ducking competition because he realized he couldn’t win.

“I don’t think it’s dangerous,” McMorris said. “Snowboarding’s dangerous. But crossing the street is dangerous, too.”

White has been managing an ankle injury all season, injured his shoulder last month at Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and blackened an eye in a face plant last week at Copper Mountain in Colorado.

“With the practice runs I have taken, even after course modifications and watching fellow athletes get hurt, the potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other Olympics goals on,” he said Wednesday.

White was the underdog to McMorris, although McMorris cracked a rib at the X Games. The Canadian has mastered the 1440 triple cork maneuver while White has struggled to land it. White won five X Games titles in slopestyle and it was his first love as a kid, but he has focused on halfpipe in recent years. Juggling the two events this season was tougher than he expected.

“I wake up, ride the slopestyle, then cut over to pipe in the afternoon,” White said last month at an event in Breckenridge, Colo. “I’m getting really fit because of it. It brings out the best in me.”

  Comments  

Videos

Olympic Medalist in Taekwondo, Paige McPherson

Miami local qualifies as a finalist and can soon join Team USA

View More Video

Trending Stories

Military planes carrying 180 tons of aid for Venezuelans fly from Miami to Colombia

February 16, 2019 08:00 AM

Dolphins hire ex-Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie, the league’s 2016 executive of year

February 16, 2019 04:27 PM

One dead in shooting near South Beach’s Ocean Drive

February 17, 2019 06:47 AM

‘Youngest customer to date.’ Baby boy born aboard a JetBlue flight to Fort Lauderdale

February 16, 2019 04:08 PM

Mark Walton, former Canes star now with the Cincinnati Bengals, arrested in Miami

February 16, 2019 11:05 AM

Read Next

In France, the Force is strong with lightsaber dueling

People

In France, the Force is strong with lightsaber dueling

By JOHN LEICESTER AP Sports Writer

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 18, 2019 02:12 AM

In France, it is easier than ever now to act out Star Wars fantasies, because the fencing federation has officially recognized lightsaber dueling as a competitive sport.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE OLYMPICS

Tokyo governor won’t speculate on Olympic bribery scandal

Sports

Tokyo governor won’t speculate on Olympic bribery scandal

February 18, 2019 02:03 AM
Cost of 2020 Tokyo Olympics ceremonies up 40 percent

Sports

Cost of 2020 Tokyo Olympics ceremonies up 40 percent

February 15, 2019 10:07 AM
IOC chief: North Korea commits to ‘remedy’ anti-doping issue

Sports

IOC chief: North Korea commits to ‘remedy’ anti-doping issue

February 15, 2019 08:28 AM
Olympic volunteers: One-time chance, or exploitation?

Business

Olympic volunteers: One-time chance, or exploitation?

February 15, 2019 03:23 AM

Sports

Russia says another Olympic bid possible, despite doping

February 14, 2019 02:42 PM

Sports

North Korean athlete drug testing program ruled sub-standard

February 14, 2019 04:47 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Miami Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Public Insight Network
  • Reader Panel
Advertising
  • Place a Classified
  • Media Kit
  • Commercial Printing
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story