I'm totally into the Olympics. What's more entertaining in the sports world, then the world's greatest athletes coming together to compete on the biggest stage known to man? My two favorite events are ice-hockey and snowboarding so I'm writing a few articles to step out of my realm of DC Sports for a change. Today It's Shaun White and the half-pipe conditions.
When he arrived in Sochi and made a few practice runs, he made the decision to pull out of the 1st ever Olympic "Slope-Style" event. White released a statement regarding his decision:
“After much deliberation with my team, I have made the decision to focus solely on trying to bring home the third straight gold medal in half-pipe for Team USA,” White said in the statement, given to NBC’s “Today.” “The difficult decision to forgo slope-style is not one I take lightly as I know how much effort everyone has put into holding the slope-style event for the first time in Olympic history, a history I had planned on being a part of.”
Although he has been training hard for the last year to compete in each event, to me, the decision doesn't come as much of a surprise. Why risk the possibility of injury and the exhaustion that the conflicting schedules would enforce, when you have a chance to set a world record? White has won back to back gold medals on the half pipe in the last two Olympics and a third would set a new record.
I'm sure the conditions of the slope-style course and the half-pipe may have contributed to his decision. White is one of many athletes who have complained about the conditions of the course and the pipe. In one of White's early practice runs, he fell and injured his wrist (not a big deal but scary) and Torstein Horgmo, a Norwegian snowboarder, actually broke his collar bone in a practice run.
With the Pipe event set to begin tomorrow (the 11th), final adjustments to the pipe will be made tonight and the athletes will have to make do with however it turns out. Adjustments will be hard with the There is said to be a bump in the middle of the pipe that won't cause injury problems, but it could effect how strong the overall competition is.
Let's hope Shaun White can pull it out and bring home a 2nd gold for US in snowboarding.
Go USA!
Zach Hart
Shades of Red
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