British snowboarding Olympian Billy Morgan has paid tribute to Shaun White and recalled one of the "run-ins" he had with the retiring legend.
White is the most decorated snowboarder ever and shot to fame by winning gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
He added two more gold medals in Vancouver and PyeongChang, while his total of 18 medals won at the Winter X Games is the most ever by an individual competitor.
White, 35, announced on Saturday that these Games would be his last – and he hopes to mark the occasion by becoming an Olympic champion for the fourth time in the men's halfpipe.
Briton Morgan, who stood on the podium with White to receive his bronze medal in PyeongChang, says the American will "always be the face and the legend of snowboarding".
He told Eurosport: "I think Shaun White making the call to retire is well-deserved. He's had a massive career in snowboarding, he's been the face of snowboarding and he's led the progression of snowboarding for many years.
"Someone with so much history, having three gold medals, I don't know what else somebody would want from a sport. He's an incredible inspiration to everybody and he's done amazing things for snowboarding."
Morgan also told a story of one of the times he had a "run-in" with the legend.
"I was learning backside triples when I was a young gun and I'd fallen and I was at the bottom of the landing and Shaun came down to see if I was alright and accidentally sprayed me a little bit [with snow]," he explained.
"I looked round – I didn't know who it was – and Shaun asked me if I was okay and said yeah, coughing and spluttering a little bit, but you know, thanks bud!
"I've got fond memories – and that's one fond memory of Shaun!"
White has cited recurring issues with his knee and his back as the driving force behind his decision to hang up his snowboard.
"It's this and it's that, all these things are major things that brought me to this conclusion," he said.
The American was a huge driving force behind the growing popularity of the sport in the early 2000s, and has been competing at the very top level ever since.
White loves the fact his career has had such longevity, but noted that his younger competitors today can pull off "heavier and heavier" skills with a snowboard and that they are "catching up".
"The thing I'm the most proud of would be staying on top of a sport that's ever-changing for as long as I have," he added.
"It's almost like fashion, it's ever changing – you're trying to guess the trend of what's going to happen and have your finger on the pulse."
