Winter Olympics 2022: eternal, the "flying tomato" Shaun White was scared but can believe in a fourth title at 35

Shaun White is resisting.

Triple Olympic half pipe champion (2006, 2010, 2018), the American snowboarding legend is in Beijing for one last competition, before retiring.

"The Flying Tomato" did not go far from an outing in the water: in qualifying this Wednesday, he completely missed his first run, but won his ticket for the final on the second.

Not the favorite to his succession

His failed reception on a backside 1860, which caused him to find his buttocks in the snow during his first pass, thrilled his millions of followers.

Temporarily, the Californian then found himself deprived of an Olympic final, until he set the record straight half an hour later: with an immaculate run, rewarded with an 86.25, he finally took 4th place in qualifying.

The huge Shaun White!

🤯 Fallen during his first attempt, the American set the record straight by performing a magnificent second run!

🐐 #Beijing2022 #HomeOfOlympics pic.twitter.com/l0qPSIAidI

– Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) February 9, 2022

This first gadin exposes to the general public what observers already know: if nothing prevents White from dreaming, he is no longer the favorite to his own succession.

Hampered by injuries for several years, including a recurring knee, he no longer dominates the discipline as in the past and left his throne to the Japanese Ayumu Hirano, who also achieved the best score of the entrants on Wednesday (93.25).

Multi-cap superstar

It was his physical glitches that convinced him to hang up the board, at 35.

“I made this decision when I was in Austria this winter, he said before entering the competition.

The spot was not in the best condition, it was a difficult period, I had pain in my ankle, in my knee and I had hurt my back.

I got lost on the slopes, I found myself on a chairlift to return to the station which was closing and that's when I said to myself: “It's a sign, it's over”.

It was a touching moment, I cried.

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Let the games begin!!

So incredibly proud to represent @TeamUSA.

Let's go!!

@Olympics pic.twitter.com/YhuxHGFAs9

— Shaun White (@shaunwhite) February 4, 2022

Even if he is not 100%, White remains the main attraction of the half pipe event, even without the long red hair that made his legend.

In the United States, he is a superstar who combines hats: headliner of a video game license, guitarist in a rock band, entrepreneur with his own brand of boards.

And who would like to remember during the final on Friday that he is also a hell of a snowboarding champion.