Olympian Shaun White Shares Throwback Picture As A Kid At Northland Ski Resort
Olympic Gold medalist Shaun White is heading into his last Olympic run at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. He's announced his retirement following the games, and he recently shared a sentimental post about all of his years on a snowboard.
The post talks about how he's spent 29 of his 35 years on a snowboard, and also how 23 of those years were as a professional. Back when he was a kid in the 1990s, snowboarding wasn't an Olympic sport. Snowboarding made its debut at the Nagano Games in 1998.
He shared a picture of him winning first place at a snowboard competition when he was just a little kid. It turns out that picture was taken from a 1995 competition at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, Minnesota.
The competition took place in March of 1995 at Giants Ridge as part of the U.S. Amateur Snowboard Association. Shaun White had multiple wins in the Grommets division which is for kids 10 and under. Shaun was 9 at the time.
He placed first in Slalom, Giant Slalom, & Halfpipe. He came in second place in Slopestyle.
White first debuted in the Torino Olympics in 2006. He has won 3 Olympic Gold Medals in Halfpipe. He's also won 13 Winter X Games Gold Medals, 3 Winter X Games Silver Medals, and two bronze medals.
Shaun also has professionally skateboarded, after being mentored by Tony Hawk when he was around the age he's seen in this photo.
Shaun announced his retirement after these games. He's twice the age as some of his competitors now at the age of 35. We'll see if he can go out with another medal in Beijing.