Shaun White, one of the best known parts of the United States Olympic team, will likely be in Sochi for the 2014 Olympics. The star snowboarder was recently touring as the lead guitarist for Bad Things but switched his focus to preparing for the Olympic Games.
But White said in an interview posted on the Team USA website that he has time to do more things because he can’t ride up and down the mountain all day long like he used to be able to.
“I show up, do a couple runs, and that’s the best I’m going to be all day because I slowly get worse,” he said. “So now I show up, get warmed up and I ride my heart out for two hours and then I leave. And that is probably why you see me doing so many other things off the hill because I realized that once those two hours were up I’ve got to fill my time with something else. I think quality over quantity has been the biggest thing for me.”
Additionally, playing with the band is a refreshing jump from just sticking to one thing, White said. “The music and playing in the band has definitely given me that distraction to where I come back and I’m excited.”
White at the qualifications for slopestyle for the Olympics on January 9 in Breckenridge, Colorado. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Snowboarding is different than some of the other sports. White, 27, is sometimes the oldest competitor in the competitions he’s in.
White will be competing on the halfpipe--where he won a gold medal in 2010 and 2006--and in slopestyle, which will be making its Olympic debut.
He sees his biggest competition on the halfpipe as Swiss Iouri Podladchikov.
He does have a lot of experience with slopestyle, having been crowned champion in five Winter X games (2003 through 2006, and 2009). White is also a professional skateboarder, and has competed in the Summer X games as well.
White is going through qualifying events for both the slopestyle and halfpipe, but is expected to make the cut on both of those.
Friends Read Free