SHAUN WHITE
SNOWBOARDER EXTRAORDINAIRE AND TWO-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST SHAUN WHITE REVEALS THE SECRETS TO WINNING ON THE MOUNTAIN AND OFF
Peter Davis: You must train every day.
Shaun White: I made a decision after the Sochi Olympics to make training a part of my life no matter what—going to the gym, riding a mountain bike, skateboarding, surfing or doing some activity every single day. Not only is it healthier for me, it improves my mental well-being.
PD: Your career basically started as a toddler. When you were eight, you met Tony Hawk.
SW: I got introduced to Tony at a young age. He skated at the local park. I was a huge fan of Tony Hawk—this godlike guy to an eight-year-old. He started inviting me to demos he was doing and quickly invited me to go on his gigantic skate park tour. He definitely brought me into the fold. It was amazing to know him because he was going through everything that I was just about to go through. Once all the attention hit me, where I won the Olympics, I could draw from the past experience of knowing him and how he handled situations and it really set me up for success later in life.
PD: You became a pro snowboarder at 13.
SW: You couldn’t enter the major pro events until you were 13. I had been doing amateur competitions and I had been winning. It felt great but I hit a ceiling where I wasn’t getting much better. There was a lot more pressure related to what my future was going to be. It was like: this is what I want to do and I have to do it. It was a leap of faith. It was challenging. I was 13 and all of my competitors were in their mid-to-upper twenties, so I looked like a child. The hip hop movement was going crazy in snowboarding. Everybody looked cool with big, baggy clothes and I am in yellow pants with bumblebees on them. I am trying to blend in and I stick out like a sore thumb. I would always fight to be taken seriously. A lot of people were betting against me, thinking He’s great, but will he really go the distance? I remember overhearing those conversations and it motivated me to prove them wrong and to succeed. A lot of people show up in the sport and they have a couple great years and then they disappear.
PD: When did you realize you were kicking butt and being taken seriously?
SW: I was probably 14 and I started taking spots in every competition. I got taller and bigger. When I was 15, I had this amazing breakout year where I actually won two major competitions, hitting the podium at just about every single event. That was a sign that I was gaining momentum and things were clicking. I pushed myself to take things to the next level. When I was 16, I pretty much won every competition I entered.
PD: You won your first Olympic gold medal at 19.
SW: I didn’t realize how massive the Olympics were. I didn’t realize how much of the world was watching, eyes glued to the television. When I won I come sliding down at the bottom, I have what’s called a “victory lap” because I won with my first run and nobody bested my score so I’m standing there—i just won the Olympics, I’m shaking, I’m flipping out. I come ripping down the half pipe and get to the bottom and pull up to the gate and my whole family is there in tears, crying uncontrollably with excitement and happiness and it hit me at that moment. I’ll never forget my mom through her tears just like, “You did it! You’ll forever be known as Shaun White the Olympic gold medalist! Your life is going to change forever!” It gives me chills to think about that moment because she was right. It was the start of this incredibly insane career and life. It took things to another level. I couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized.
PD: And then you won the gold four years later.
SW: I wanted to show that this wasn’t a fluke win. If I could win it again that would really show that I have a real talent and I’ve been able to stay on top for this long. I had all these beliefs behind why winning again would be so amazing and I used that to motivate myself. I started planning this dream scenario that involved me winning again and the visualization started and I followed that all the way to the finish line and miraculously got to relive one of the greatest days of my life all over again. I landed a trick that I invented called the Double Mctwist 1260 and that was kind of heard round the world. That trick was kind of light years ahead of what people were doing at the time. The next Olympics are 2022 in China. I got a bit of time for that.
PD: You injured your face right before the last Olympics.
SW: I messed up on a trick. I’m flying through the air. I caught the lip of the half pipe. It split my entire lip all the way up through the tip my nose and then my
goggles cut through my forehead and I bit through my tongue. So, I was then flown to the hospital to get stitched back up and then I had a pulmonary lung contusion, so a massive bruising on my lungs from where I hit my chest. It was literally maybe a month before the Olympic qualifying was about to start and it really set me back.
PD: But you recovered.
SW: I stayed in the hospital for like a week or two just to get the lungs better before I could fly home. I remember being frustrated at the situation and I knew exactly what I did wrong that lead me to that point but I was just trying to get through it and then get back up on the mountain and get the fear of doing that trick that put me in the hospital out of my mind. So, that was the biggest hurdle I had to clear that season along with getting ready in time for the Olympics. There’s no rush to get certain tricks done, especially if you’re confident in yourself. A big misconception people have about action sports and myself is you’re just like one of these crazy guys who needs to jump off a plane to feel your own pulse. I’m a very calculated, relaxed person in my normal life. When I’m on the snow I walk away all the time. You look at my list of injuries throughout the years and they are very few and far between. I look at my career as a marathon, not a sprint.
PD: You also make music.
SW: I play for fun. Music is a huge part of my life. It’s like speaking a language when you meet up with other musicians. In my life everything else was based off winning. You either win the competition or you don’t. With music, it’s all people’s perception. It’s kind of like who’s the best guitar player in the world? It’s all opinion. Is it Jimi Hendrix? Is it Van Halen? And you realize that it’s not about winning or anything like that. It’s about creating something that hopefully moves someone else or conveys a feeling or an emotion. That’s what’s so beautiful about music.
PD: Air & Style, the massive music and snowboarding event, is now your baby.
SW: Air & Style was an amazing contest based out of Austria that I competed at as a kid and it was just so much fun. It’s literally my favorite event to attend every single year. I started speaking with the originator, Andrew Hourmont, and I said, “Hey, what do you think about me taking this on and trying to blow it up to the next level?” I ended up buying the event from him and then making it into what it is today, that’s been a whole amazing part of my life where I play music, I go to festivals. I have been snowboarding and competing my entire life, so combining those two things in one major event just felt right. I love bringing people together, so it’s just really like fire on all fronts for me.
PD: You’re a stylish guy.
SW: It’s the first time in my career I can branch out and wear other products besides Burton, which is definitely a bizarre change for me. It is exciting to see the fashion world taking a liking to our particular sport. I think it’s so cool, I think it’s great, I think it’s the beginning of this. You are going to see a lot of really amazing things coming out in the future.
PD: You definitely didn’t have a normal or average childhood.
SW: I appreciate the life I’ve been given and worked for because it’s definitely been off the beaten trail. It’s just so hard to picture myself doing something else. I grew up traveling around in a van with my parents going from mountain to mountain and doing competitions. I didn’t have a huge group of friends. I definitely have a smaller group of friends with more intimate relationships. But I wouldn’t trade any of the sacrifices I made for the life I have today.
“I APPRECIATE THE LIFE I’VE BEEN GIVEN AND WORKED FOR BECAUSE IT’S DEFINITELY BEEN OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL. IT’S JUST SO HARD TO PICTURE MYSELF DOING SOMETHING ELSE...”