The final run
Gold medalist White says he will retire after Beijing
BEIJING — The Flying Tomato wants this to be his final takeoff.
Three-time snowboarding gold medalist Shaun White made it clear Saturday that the Beijing Games won’t just be his final Olympics, the 35-yearold American plans to retire from the sport he put on the international map after the halfpipe medal round next week.
“In my mind, I’ve decided this will be my last competition,” he said.
White has been a transcendent force for snowboarding, its most recognizable face for nearly two decades — and not just because of the mop of red hair that inspired his nickname.
Those locks have since been chopped, and White is now an elder statesman for the sport, hobbling into his fifth Olympics after a season marred by an ankle injury, a bout with COVID-19, a late unscheduled trip to Switzerland to secure his Olympic spot and, most recently, a training plan that got thrown off schedule during his stay in Colorado in January.
“I’m sort of pinching myself, with how lucky I am to still be here at this age,” he said during a reflective, 45-minute news conference.
White won gold in his Olympic debut in 2006, just the third time halfpipe snowboarding was held at the Winter Games. The sport boomed in popularity with him at the forefront, and he won gold again in 2010 and 2018. He also has 15 X-Games golds — 13 in snowboarding and two as a skateboarder.
White will hardly be a favorite for a fourth halfpipe gold when the finals are held Friday. Ayumu Hirano of Japan, who finished second to White in 2018, became the first to land a triple cork in competition in December, and the three-flip trick probably won’t be in White’s run. He said he’s toggling between trying to enjoy every moment of the last big contest week of his life and knowing there is work to do when the halfpipe opens for training Sunday.
He said he decided he was ready to be done during the buildup to the Beijing Games, a moment that crystalized when he got lost on a mountain during a soul-sucking training stop in Austria in November
“A sad and surreal moment,” he said. “But joyous, as well.”
Norwegian cruise line
Norway is sailing toward a second straight turn atop the Winter Games medal count after a golden start.
Cross-country skier Therese Johaug won the first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics in the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon, and Johannes Thingnes Boe moved ahead of his French and Russian rivals in the final meters of the mixed relay to give Norway gold in the first biathlon race.
Johaug fought wind and frigid temperatures to ski away from a chase group of four. She has 10 world championship titles but had never before won an individual Olympic gold medal.
Boe, Quentin Fillon Maillet of France and Eduard Latypov of the Russian team left the range close together after the last round of shooting and raced for position until the final stretch, when Boe sprinted for
the win. Norway, which came into the relay as the World Cup leader, also got strong performances from Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and Tarjei Boe. But they trailed early in the race when Tiril
Eckhoff struggled on the range.
On the board
China earned its first gold medal of the Beijing Games in the short track speedskating mixed team relay in the event’s Olympic debut.
Wu Dajing edged Pietro Sighel of Italy by .016 seconds — or half a skate blade — to claim gold. Hungary earned bronze. Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin and Ren Ziwei joined Wu for the historic
victory. The small number of Chinese fans at Capital Indoor Arena cheered and waved tiny flags.
China was the gold-medal favorite coming in, having led the World Cup
standings this season.
Aussie curlers out of Games due to COVID
Australia’s first-ever Olympic mixed doubles curling team has pulled out of the Beijing Games after Tahli Gill returned a series of positive COVID19 tests. The Australian Olympic
Committee said it was trying to make arrangements to have Gill and Dean Hewitt fly home rather than having
Gill remain in an isolation hotel. They will miss their final two games and
finish 0-7 in round robin play.