Talking with Snowboarder mag’s Pat Bridges about his five-hour sit-down with Sochi’s most famous snowboarder
Only a few athletes have transcended the action-sports community and broken into the realm of full-blown celebrity. Snowboarder Shaun White is one of them. At the age of 7, White got his first sponsorship, from Burton Snowboards, and his career trajectory was set. He is officially the most decorated X Games medalist in history, with 18 medals in snowboarding and another five in vert skateboarding—a sport he turned pro in at the age of 17. With two Olympic gold medals in snowboard halfpipe, White was set to compete for two more medals in Sochi with spots in both the halfpipe and slopestyle competitions—until he decided, controversially, to forgo the slope contest to focus on pipe.
Not surprisingly, White is used to … More