Flying Tomato

Feb. 17 the world once again watched in awe as snowboarder Shaun White tore up the men's halfpipe at the Vancouver Olympics. He left his competition in the wake of his long red locks as he dominated the event for the second straight Olympics. White unveiled one of his highly anticipated new tricks the Double McTwist 1260 in his final run after he had already won the gold medal with his first run, which he scored a 46.8 out of 50.

White literally could have done nothing or just snowboarded right down the middle of the halfpipe and received his medal, but no, the Flying Tomato put on a show.
In true American fashion White decided he would show the world he is just that much better than everyone else and himself by doing his final run and busting out a 48.4 score to beat his own score and give himself a greater margin of victory.

Not only did he not need to do the final run, but he didn't need to bust out his secret trick, which he had been practicing at his private halfpipe in Colorado. Yet, White decided to do so. Whites laid back attitude and red hair make him the face of snowboarding. A true American. White is now the first ever repeat winner in men's halfpipe and the only person to ever win a gold medal in that event.

White has been extremely dominate in a sport that is just becoming popular world wide. As White's competition gets better because of him, he finds that his competition is pushing him to get better as well. White makes us wonder what else he could come up with. He is only 23 years old and will clearly be around for years to come.

Has White peaked or can we expect to see more from this young red-haired phenom? Only time will tell.

Noah Hanstedt