Early Life

With the ending of Shawn White’s snowboarding career after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, I deem it only necessary to give a recap of his life up to this point and his success in the sport of snowboarding. Shawn was born in 1986 on September 3 as the youngest of four children. His mother was a waitress, and his father worked at the San Clemente, California, water department. White was born with a Tetralogy of Fallot which is characterized by four cardiac defects and caused him to have two open-heart surgeries before he even turned one. He grew up skateboarding and even befriended Tony Hawk while in California, which aided him in his career in skateboarding. Following his older brother James, he took up snowboarding and started to compete in the Winter sport.

Career

White has taken the half-pipe snowboarding competition by storm and has influenced the sport altogether. White has competed in five Olympic games where he has received three gold medals, and he has also competed in the half-pipe snowboarding event since 2002 and medaled every year since then. Pretty impressive run, if you ask me.

His impressive career within the sport ended this year with the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. While competing in the half-pipe, he missed the podium by 2.25 points, leaving him in fourth for the final showing of his skill at the age of thirty-five. After his last run, Shawn was overfilled with emotion and was thankful for his time in the sport and grateful for the opportunities it presented him with. White changed the face of snowboarding and the Winter Games forever.

Career Outside of Snowboarding

White has made a few appearances in the entertainment field. He has been in some movies, reality TV, and animated series. He was featured in American Dad, the Disney movie, Cloud 9, and he was the main focus of an ESPN movie titled, Don’t Look Down. Along with his showcases in TV and films, he played the guitar in a rock band named Bad Things. They played at Lollapalooza as a replacement for another band and that is about the most fame they ever received. I think it is safe to say that his music career was not as successful as his snowboarding one.

Allegations

In 2012, White was arrested for public intoxication and vandalism while he was in Tennessee. In a drunken night out, he pulled the fire alarm in the hotel he was staying in and while trying to flee the scene, he kicked a patron. He continued to try to run, but ended up injuring his head and was arrested by officers. He was also accused of sexual misconduct in 2016 by his former band member, Lena Zawaideh. The lawsuit accused White of forcefully making her look at sexual images and videos and that he also wrongfully kicked her from the band. With this issue still being apparent in 2018 during the Olympic Games, he referred to the suit as “gossip” during a press conference which made him receive a lot of backlash. He later apologized for what he had said.

Specific Achievements

• First person to compete and medal in both the Summer and Winter X Games
• First snowboarder to ever land back-to-back double corks
• First to land Cab 7 Melon Grab in vert skateboarding
• Holds the highest score in men’s halfpipe at Winter Olympics in 2018 with a 97.75 (nearly perfect score) on his last run
• Has won the ESPY award ten times for Best Male Action Sports Athlete and Best Male U.S. Olympic Athlete
• He was featured on the Forbes magazine cover for “30 under 30” in 2016

Life Now

He is currently dating Nina Dobrev who starred in the popular TV series, The Vampire Diaries. They have dated since 2019 and are very open with their relationship on social media. He recently launched his own active lifestyle brand named Whitespace which has not yet come out yet. It will include a wide range of items: outerwear, snowboarding equipment, athletic gear, and casual clothing. I am personally interested in what this brand will entail and how successful it will be. He has also granted 17 wishes through the Make-A-Wish Foundation since 2008 since he dealt with open heart surgeries and tough times during his childhood. He continues to inspire snowboarders and the love for the sport through his major successes. With his typically overlooked successes in skateboarding as well, he is truly a master of the X games events and the figurehead for skateboarding and snowboarding. He has truly changed the way people look at the Winter Games and has changed the entirety of the snowboarding sport forever with his innovative style and groundbreaking accomplishments.

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“I just want to thank everyone for watching. Everyone at home, thank you. Snowboarding, thank you. It’s been the love of my life.”

— Shawn White