Shaun White, also known as the Flying Tomato, said that the Beijing 2022 will be his last Olympics. The 35-year-old American snowboarder, a three-time gold medalist, plans to retire from the sport he put on the international map. 

“In my mind, I’ve decided this will be my last competition,” he said.

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The nickname Flying Tomato came up because of White’s mop of red hair, his pony tail that the Olympian recently chopped. He snowboards in his fifth Olympics after a season marred by an ankle injury, a bout with COVID-19, a late unscheduled trip to Switzerland to secure his Olympic spot and, most recently, a training plan that got thrown off schedule during his stay in Colorado in January. 

“I’m sort of pinching myself, with how lucky I am to still be here at this age,” he said.

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Who is Shaun White?

A snowboarder, skateboarder and musician, Shaun White has won three gold medals in half-pipe snowboarding in five Olympics. The 35-year-old, a 10-time ESPY Award-winner, holds the world record for the most X-Games gold medals and most Olympic gold medals by a snowboarder.

The first of his three Olympic golds game in his debut Games in 2006. The sport boomed in popularity with him at the forefront, and he won gold again in 2010 and 2018. He has 15 X-Games golds — 13 in snowboarding and two as a skateboarder.

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White was born in San Diego, California. His mother, Cathy, was a waitress and father, Roger, worked in the San Clemente, water department. 

Mentored by skateboarder Tony Hawk when he was nine, White turned pro by the time he was 16. 

“Tony was my hero and I was too terrified to talk to him so every time I saw him at the skate park I would try to impress him with my skateboarding in the hopes that one day he would say something to me,” Shaun White had said. 

He switched to snowboarding at age six and dominated the sport for two decades. 

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He said he decided he was ready to be done during the buildup to the Beijing Games, a moment that crystalized when he got lost on a mountain during a soul-sucking training stop in Austria in November

“A sad and surreal moment,” he said. “But joyous, as well. I kind of reflected on things I’ve done and looked at the sun going down and went, ‘Wow, next time I’m here, I won’t be stressed about learning tricks or worried about some competition thing.’”

With inputs from the Associated Press