16 VotesShaun White is no doubt one of USA's favorites, and no doubt has a worldly based fan club when it comes to snowboarding. Shaun is also widely known for his love and skill for skateboarding. But, for the 2010 Winter Olympics being held right next door to his home country, Shaun has a few new half pipe tricks up his sleeve to dazzle the fans and judges.
A 23 year old gold medalist, Shaun White is no doubt one of the youngest and most talented snowboarders in the world. At the 2006 Winter Olympics he won himself gold, and currently is competing again for the gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.
In 2009, along with his big name sponsor Red Bull, Shaun decided to build a private half pipe track for himself in a very remote location. This way he was free to practice on his own, and create new and exciting tricks for his upcoming events and competitions. They decided to call this private half pipe the Red Bull project X.
Red Bull Project X is a one of a kind training facility - the first ever built, and because of it you can definitely count on halfpipe snowboarding to never be the same. In Colorado on the backcountry of Silverton Mountain, now stands a 22 foot tall half-pipe, with 550 foot long walls, and a 600 square foot foam pit at the bottom of it. The idea of the pit was to enable Shaun to test the limits and easily make mistakes, but without any injuries.
With Red Bull Project X White was able to create a new trick in halfpipe snowboarding: the frontside double cork 1080. This flip involves two off-axis flips, which he performed back to back variations of at the 2009 Burton New Zealand Open. These new tricks got him the recognition he so well deserved and the win.
Now the question remains, can he pull it off again at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games? His fans and supporters have no doubt that he can, and you can be sure to see them there cheering him on every step of the way.
