Shaun White tearfully said goodbye to snowboarding after the legend retired from Olympic competition following his final run in the men’s halfpipe.
The American superstar came up short in his bid for a record fourth Olympic gold and wiped away tears as the crowd cheered him for the final time. His opponents embraced him in a truly emotive Olympic moment.
White spoke of his emotion and the difficulty in stepping away from the sport that he has dominated for two decades - but admitted he was looking forward to settling down and having a family with his actress girlfriend Nina Dobrev.
“Over the last few months, it’s been wild. I have been pushing to give it everything I have, but then realising I am human,” said White.
“I’ve spent an entire career not being human and doing what people thought was impossible. And then to have my ankle go and then my knee, and I had surgery before the season started.
“All these things wearing and tearing, so to put it down and to even get here, I was so thrilled. The thought I keep having is, ‘I’ll be here doing this specific thing’.
“This is the last time I’ll be at a competition, stressed out about what points I’m going to get, or is today the day I might really hurt myself trying to push the envelope, you know.
"It’s hard to wake up every day since you were a kid and go, ‘Wow, I’m going to do something really scary today and hope I’m OK?’”
White won gold medals at Winter Olympic Games including Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010 and PyeongChang 2018. He finished fourth at Sochi 2014.
The 35-year-old went into his final run having finished fourth in the first two jumps, but stumbled and fell on his final attempt to end his bid for a dramatic fourth gold.
The winner was Japan’s Ayumu Hirano, who claimed silver behind White in South Korea while Australia’s Scotty James won silver and bronze was captured by Swiss star Jan Scherrer.
White finished fourth with a best score of 85.00 and the US snowboarder Taylor Gold was fifth with 81.75.
He had executed a brilliant routine including his patented ‘Double McTwist 1260’ followed by a frontside 1260, but it was not enough to surpass even finer acrobatic displays by Hirano and James.
He commented on his pride at representing Team USA, but acknowledged it was time to retire: “This is it for me. I'm so thankful to be here and so proud.
“I wish I could have landed my last run, but I was having some difficulty in my back leg for some reason, it was giving out on every run, I don't know why. Maybe it was the pressure, maybe it was just exhaustion.
“Really challenging, but that's OK, that's it, I'm done. I'm so thankful for my career, thankful to China for having us. It's been a journey, I'm just so happy, and thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
“A lot of emotions are hitting me right now, the cheering from the crowd, some kind words from my fellow competitors at the bottom, I'm so happy. Snowboarding, thank you. It's been the love of my life.
“It's been a journey. I can't wait to see where this sport goes. I'm so happy for Ayumu, to watch him nail that run. Incredible, I'm proud to stay here and cheer him on from here. I wish him and Scotty all the best.”
The Olympic legend, who claimed the third gold four years ago in South Korea was the highlight of his career, broke down in tears when asked about his failure to make to the podium for his final event.
“I would have loved to put it down. I made it happen for two runs and I couldn't hold on for the last,” White tearfully conceded. “It's hard for me not get hung up on that last run, I wanted it so badly.
“I’m proud of the runs I put down, I'm proud to be here for my last goodbye."
Australian competitor Valentini Guseli, who finished sixth, was asked if he had been inspired by White, and he was adamant in his answer as he labelled the American as ‘one of the biggest faces in snowboarding’ throughout his life.
“To see him dropping into his last Olympics was really awesome,” Guseli said. “To watch him one last time and when he got to the bottom I got a bit teary just to see the legacy that he's leaving behind.
“I know he'll always be with us. He'll always be there.”
