Shaun White waves to the crowd after a run during the men’s snowboard halfpipe qualifying at the Winter Olympics, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia, Feb. 11, 2014. A key part in the first episode of the documentary series “Shaun White: The Last Run” zeroes in on the exact moment White decided to try to make a living out of snowboarding instead of trying to make friends. The four-part series documenting White’s life and career starts Thursday, July 6, 2023, on MAX.
(AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
Years after their sport was hoisted onto the Olympic stage, the idea of riding for big money and gold medals still felt dirty, in a way, to most pro snowboarders. They were more focused on fun and friends than cash and prizes.
For every death-defying calculation Shaun White made over two decades of risk-taking on the halfpipe, his decision to push those riders into thinking differently about their role in the sport was as big a game changer as any.
A key part in the first episode of the documentary series “Shaun White: The Last Run,” which debuts Thursday on MAX, zeroes in on the exact moment White decided to try to make a living out of snowboarding instead of trying to make friends.
“We saw a future in this sport that others didn’t and we wanted to prove them wrong,” says White, now 36, reflecting in the series on the turning-point moment, which came when he was 15. “I could potentially make what (my parents) were making for a whole year in one day.”
White took more than his fair share of grief for that decision, but the ensuing two decades proved him right.
By the end of the series, nobody much thinks twice about putting their life on the line for a gold medal. The 23-year-old, Ayumu Hirano, who wins one at the Beijing Olympics — where White finished fourth after his last run — is one of many who readily admit they wouldn’t be on that halfpipe were it not for the example White set.
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