Shaun White's next Olympic appearance might not be on a snowboard
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Shaun White notched his third gold medal as a snowboarder in men’s halfpipe at the Olympics on Wednesday in PyeongChang, winning an event he has owned since the 2006 Games. His next Olympic appearance might be somewhat different.
Currently embroiled in a litany of sexual misconduct allegations, White still addressed his future plans during his press conference after winning gold. While he did not commit to competing in either, he does seem interested in both skateboarding’s debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and in snowboarding at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Shaun White asked about when/if he’ll start preparing for skateboard in Tokyo 2020 summer games. Says he has to decide whether to sacrifice training for Beijing 2022. So it sounds like he has another winter Olympics in mind.
— T.J. Quinn (@TJQuinnESPN) February 14, 2018
Shaun White: "It would mean the world to me to compete in skating" referring to skateboarding being added as a sport at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
He also said he hasn't ruled out competing in the next Winter Olympics.
— Alex Ptachick (@alexptachick) February 14, 2018
Competing in either would further put White in unprecedented territory as an athlete. White already owns three of the six gold medals ever given out in men’s halfpipe snowboarding at the Olympics and a fourth would make him nearly untouchable in snowboarding history.
An appearance in Tokyo might be a little trickier for White, who hasn’t competed as a skateboarder at the X Games since he won the Vert event in 2011.
He will certainly face strong challengers who have focused their careers on skateboarding, but White seemed confident in his chances per the Kyodo News.
“I really do think I could be competitive. It’s like this muscle memory. A lot of tricks here are very similar to skateboarding. I really think I’ve got a great shot.”
Maybe an appearance at either Olympics is optimistic thinking given that White is already a member of snowboarding’s old guard at 31 years old. But when you can do this at 31, who says you can’t stay competitive at 35?
More from Yahoo Sports:
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• Aaron Rodgers and Matt Hamilton are officially mustache brothers (photos)
• How did married figure skaters spend Valentine’s Day in PyeongChang?
• Internet explodes in protest after White drags American flag
