Shaun White
Over the years there have been several new athletes ready to give a shot at the X-Games competition. Sure these are great athletes but what everyone wants to see is a new style. Who knew that Shaun White would be perfect for the job?
Shaun White was born in San Diego, California in 1986. As a small child, he went through surgery due to a heart defect before he was a year old. This obviously was a very, terrifying situation for his family. Surprisingly, he showed that this definitely didn’t affect him as he began to grow older. He began his interest in extreme sports such as snowboarding and skateboarding at a very young age.
He grew up with an amazing family of five. They were his mom Cathy, his dad Roger, his sister Kari and his brother Jesse. As he grew older his family began to take him up on the mountain slopes to learn to how to snowboard. Jesse instructed Shaun to do everything she did while cruising down the slopes. Shaun did just that, except he had a strong, intense urge to go faster.
At age seven Shaun won his first amateur snowboard contest earning him an entry to the Nationals and ended up placing in the top ten. Shortly afterward, his mother sent video of Shaun to Burton Sports Company and they were so impressed by Shaun’s amazing talent, they willingly offered him a sponsorship deal. Because of this he became pro at age 13. He was known as the “Flying Tomato”.
At age sixteen, Shaun, skilled and determined, was able to achieve his first Winter X-Games gold medal. Now Shaun holds 16 X-Games medals in his possession. I wonder how he’s able to act so bravely and compete. The strange thing is, Shaun loves competing. These are his thoughts about it,” You know the best thing about competition? There’s this whole strategy game, and when it all works out it’s like solving that hard math question. You finally get the answer and you’re so happy. Whenever I’m at the top