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Shaun White just concluded his final Olympic performance. The snowboarder, who’s been an Olympian five times and has won three gold medals, said he got some retirement inspiration from President Barack Obama.
In an appearance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” White spoke about ending his career. “You know, when I was thinking of retirement, I kept thinking of Obama when he left office,” he said. “All of the sudden it’s just him on a jet ski and a straw hat and I was like ‘God, I wanna be doing that.’ That’s where I’m heading.”
Corden talked about White’s impact on snowboarding and how he revolutionized the sport, and how difficult it probably was to make the decision to retire. When asked why he chose to do it, White said, “I remember waking up one morning and I was just like, ‘My back!’ And everybody called me and they were like ‘What happened?’ and I was like ‘Nothing! I woke up,” he said.
White’s last performance at the Olympics ended up in fourth place in the half-pipe event, which he’d been the best at for the past two decades. After his last performance, he was emotional and thanked his family and snowboarding itself. “I just want to thank everyone for watching. Everyone at home, thank you. Snowboarding, thank you. It’s been the love of my life,” he said.
Despite not getting the results he was after, he was still proud of his performance and his career. “I wanted more today but I’ll take what I can get. It’s been my life,” he said
White announced he was retiring right before the start of this year’s Winter Olympics. “I had my sights set on competing in Italy [in 2026],” he said back in January. “I got pretty excited about the idea of finishing my Olympic career where I started it [in 2006]. But through this process, I realized I don’t think I can do another four years, mentally or physically. This is going to be my last go,” he said.