Shaun White leaves 2022 Winter Games without a medal

Extreme sports like snowboarding have a common denominator: failure is not always in the air, it is often inevitable, it is tolerable. It is part of the culture. Falling is normal. Big mistakes and breakdowns elicit applause, not boos. The tricks are played, and failed, hundreds of times before they are mastered. And even after mastering it, it messes up again.

On Friday morning in Zhangjiakou, China, the largest half-pipe skater in history made his last three runs around a 623-foot curve with 22-foot-high walls and 68 feet of air between man-made barriers.

His last run was incomplete. Shawn White fell in the last round of his career. No medal this time. But there is much to think about after what was almost the most controversial refereeing decision at the Winter Olympics in a long time. (More on that soon).

After orchestrating his efforts to win the gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, White wavered for years over whether he would ever achieve glory again. Figure skating doesn't have the culture of swimming, track, and many other Olympic disciplines that endear the all-time greats who strive for feats every time in the winters of their careers. Snowboarding is a thrill... but it's also great. Competing in this sport does not usually generate vile rivalries.

White was sometimes an exception to this, especially early in his life when he approached figure skating as a singular activity, sometimes moving away from his contemporaries. As White has aged, coming of age but also facing controversy (there was a sexual harassment allegation from a former bandmate that was settled out of court in 2016), he has become more of an ambassador for the sport for which he is best known. on his account.

It could have been a story of him conjuring up something unimaginably material for a man his age and stealing the gold. But this did not happen. It would have been fitting for White to get on the podium, silver or bronze, but he fell short there too.

Of the last three races to wrap up an incredible race, Wyatt's second best was the best. He flawlessly decoded the front end of the 1440 before crashing into the double 1080. That was the easiest of his five tricks, the 540 front, before his penultimate highlight: Double McTwist 1260. That's the move White popularized, and snowboarders will still be doing it in competition decades from now. He finished his five bluff routine with a 1260 front end and cleaned it out. He is still among the top five in the world in this field.

But he needed to be in the top three to claim his fourth Olympic medal. After his second race, 85.00 made him second overall. But at the end of the second cycle of competitors, he did not make it to the podium. White's last push down the tube ended in a real slam, needing 87.25 or better to have a shot at bronze. He crashed into the wall after going through the year 1440, and the painting of him hit the shelf with such force that it erased it.

But White went for it all. He sometimes cleans himself. This is the sport. Snowboarding rewards crazy people who push the limits of gravity. How these humans were able to propel themselves higher and faster than ever before over a 22 foot frozen wall is a mystery to me.

When White opened his engagement boots, the cameras rehearsing his last moments on the mountain, he was stunned. His fellow competitors greeted him with a standing ovation. A happy ending, even if it's not satisfying.

Wyatt's latest event, starring Half Pipe, almost drowned out the controversy. The gold went to the Japanese Ayumu Hirano, who in the final round of the event placed him at the top of the podium with 96.00 and beat Australian Scotty James (92.50). He should never have gotten to this point. Despite all of James' amazing skills, this is Hirano's sport now. At twenty-three, he's poised to tower above everyone else for at least half a decade, if he chooses. After an impressive second round, the judges collectively awarded him an astonishingly low 91.75.

"Hey, is there a mistake?" said NBC commentator Todd Harris. "No way. No way! 91.75?"

Harris had more to say and his comments went viral immediately. It is rare for a commentator to directly criticize the integrity of the Olympic jury. At this point, he was justified. Even to the casual sports fan, Hirano's pipe ability was undeniable. He looks different from everyone else.

"As far as I'm concerned, the judges have bolstered his entire credibility," Harris said. "I know when you saw the greatest Halfpipe race ever. Try to tell me where you're going to discount that race. It's unbelievable that that happens. It's a sham, to be completely honest with you, I'm pissed off." now."

Hirano had to attempt the most difficult move in the half pipe, the triple cork, which he only managed in competition three times. All three times he landed it perfectly. Hirano's exceptional performance also included the 1440, the 1260 in the rear 1260, and finally the 1440.

There was no dispute about it. This is Hirano's moment. Half pipe on the ice of him. It is Hirano's third Olympic medal. He won silver medals on the 15th and 19th.

"This was the toughest half-pipe race in the history of a half-pipe ever done," Harris said.

White retired with three Olympic gold medals from five Games, in addition to 13 other X Games titles. He leaves the sport with a legacy of not just the greatest, but the first. He brought half-pipe skating into the mainstream and, in fact, propelled it to become not only an Olympic sport, but one of the most popular winter sports.

White has been pushed around on a snowboard, or more accurately, pushed, twisted, twisted, flipped and bent dozens of feet into the air, for 22 years. He won the gold medal in 2006 in Turin at the age of 19. Then another finished on top of the podium at the height of his career in 2010, the Vancouver Games. Four years later came the shock and disappointment of Sochi when he failed to win the medal. In 2018, Pyeongchang won the gold medal again.

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