Shaun White has made snowboarding look pretty easy over the past several years, but we’re starting to see that it’s not all that simple.
White finished fourth in the halfpipe during the Winter Games in Sochi, and the US failed to medal in the event for the first time since it was introduced to the Olympics in 1998. White’s struggles came when he was unable to execute the Yolo flip, a trick created by Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov, who is known as I-Pod. I-Pod won the gold in the event by executing his trick to the pleasure of the judges.
White said that being able to execute the Yolo flip in training was his downfall, because that convinced him he could do the difficult trick in competition.
White’s fourth-place finish in the event reminds me of a photo White posted on his Twitter account on Jan. 27, two weeks before the competition. The photo shows him with a massive black eye he suffered in training.
Still in the fight for Sochi! #RussiaCalling #blackeyes #olympics @BadThings pic.twitter.com/HoW04L93lv
— Shaun White (@shaun_white) January 27, 2014
Now I’m starting to wonder if he got that trying the Yolo trick in practice.
White has also opened himself up to a lot of second-guessing. He pulled out of the Winter X Games before the Olympics, and he also pulled out of the slopestyle event in Sochi so he could focus on his best event. And now he didn’t even medal.
