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FILE – United States’ gold medalist Shaun White reacts throughout the males’s halfpipe medal ceremony on the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010. The Beijing Olympics would be the fifth Olympics for the three-time gold medalist. And the final Olympics for the 35-year-old — get this — elder-statesman who's now greater than double the age of a number of the riders he goes in opposition to. (AP Photograph/Jae C. Hong, File)
By JAKE SEINER
BEIJING (AP) — The Flying Tomato needs this to be his last takeoff.
Three-time snowboarding gold medalist Shaun White made it clear Saturday that the Beijing Video games received’t simply be his last Olympics, the 35-year-old American plans to retire from the game he placed on the worldwide map after the halfpipe medal spherical subsequent week.
“In my thoughts, I’ve determined this shall be my final competitors,” he stated.
White has been a transcendent pressure for snowboarding, its most recognizable face for practically 20 years — and never simply due to the mop of purple hair that impressed his nickname.
These locks have since been chopped, and White is now an elder statesman for the game, hobbling into his fifth Olympics after a season marred by an ankle damage, a bout with COVID-19, a late unscheduled journey to Switzerland to safe his Olympic spot and, most not too long ago, a coaching plan that obtained thrown off schedule throughout his keep in Colorado in January.
“I’m kind of pinching myself, with how fortunate I'm to nonetheless be right here at this age,” he stated throughout a reflective, 45-minute information convention.
White received gold in his Olympic debut in 2006, simply the third time halfpipe snowboarding was held on the Winter Video games. The game boomed in reputation with him on the forefront, and he received gold once more in 2010 and 2018. He additionally has 15 X-Video games golds — 13 in snowboarding and two as a skateboarder.
White will hardly be a favourite for a fourth halfpipe gold when the finals are held Friday. Ayumu Hirano of Japan, who completed second to White in 2018, grew to become the primary to land a triple cork in competitors in December, and the three-flip trick most likely received’t be in White’s run.
White stated he’s toggling between attempting to get pleasure from each second of the final massive contest week of his life and understanding there's work to do when the halfpipe opens for coaching Sunday.
He stated he determined he was able to be achieved throughout the buildup to the Beijing Video games, a second that crystalized when he obtained misplaced on a mountain throughout a soul-sucking coaching cease in Austria in November.
“A tragic and surreal second,” he stated. “However joyous, as properly. I sort of mirrored on issues I’ve achieved and appeared on the solar taking place and went, ‘Wow, subsequent time I’m right here, I received’t be harassed about studying tips or frightened about some competitors factor.’”
NORWEIGIAN CRUISE LINE
Norway is crusing towards a second straight flip atop the Winter Video games medal depend after a golden begin.
Cross-country skier Therese Johaug received the primary gold medal of the Beijing Olympics within the girls’s 15-kilometer skiathlon, and Johannes Thingnes Boe moved forward of his French and Russian rivals within the last meters of the blended relay to offer Norway gold within the first biathlon race.
Johaug fought wind and frigid temperatures to ski away from a chase group of 4. She has 10 world championship titles however had by no means earlier than received a person Olympic gold medal.
Boe, Quentin Fillon Maillet of France and Eduard Latypov of the Russian staff left the vary shut collectively after the final spherical of taking pictures and raced for place till the ultimate stretch, when Boe sprinted for the win.
Norway, which got here into the relay because the World Cup chief, additionally obtained robust performances from Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and Tarjei Boe. However they trailed early within the race when Tiril Eckhoff struggled on the vary.
ON THE BOARD
China earned its first gold medal of the Beijing Video games within the brief monitor speedskating blended staff relay within the occasion’s Olympic debut.
Wu Dajing edged Pietro Sighel of Italy by .016 seconds — or half a skate blade — to assert gold. Hungary earned bronze.
Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin and Ren Ziwei joined Wu for the historic victory. The small variety of Chinese language followers at Capital Indoor Area cheered and waved tiny flags.
China was the gold-medal favourite coming in, having led the World Cup standings this season.
RECORD ON ICE
Irene Schouten gave the mighty Dutch a gold medal within the first speedskating occasion of the Beijing Video games, breaking a 20-year-old Olympic document within the girls’s 3,000 meters.
Skating within the final of 10 pairs, Schouten turned in a blazing last lap to put up a successful time of three minutes, 56.93 seconds. That broke the earlier Olympic mark of three:57.70, set by Germany’s Claudia Pechstein on the 2002 Salt Lake Metropolis Video games.
In a becoming bookend to the occasion, Pechstein skated within the opening pair to turn into the oldest feminine athlete in Olympic historical past at 49. The German completed final, greater than 20 seconds behind the winner.
NEW KING OF THE HILL
Walter Wallberg of Sweden upset “The King” to take residence the gold medal within the males’s moguls.
Wallberg appeared nearly in shock when his rating of 83.23 flashed on the board, edging defending Olympic champion Mikael Kingsbury of Canada on a bitterly chilly night time. Wallberg picked up factors for his velocity over the graceful and technical snowboarding fashion of Kingsbury, whose nickname is the “King of Moguls.”
This was Wallberg’s first main win. The 21-year-old Swede has by no means even received a World Cup occasion.