Turin, Italy 2006 Winter Olympic Games

Olympic Snowboarding Analysis

BARDONECCHIA, Italy – It was the Shred of Turin.

And really, it could only have been pulled off by a free-spirited teenager who was nicknamed "The Flying Tomato" a few years back by his skateboarding buddies.

Shaun White won the Olympic men's snowboarding gold medal high in the Alps on Sunday by doing what any dude from sunny Southern California would do. He calmed his nerves after a fall during a qualifying run, reached the finals, then flew through and above the halfpipe on a ride that was as remarkable as his shaggy, flaming-red hair.

"It's insane. I'm overwhelmed right now," White said after wrapping himself in an American flag and crying with his family following his win.

Fellow American Danny Kass repeated as silver medalist, but it was White who stole the show, from his scintillating ride to his victory news conference, during which he used the words "stoked," "pumped" and "amped," and joked about his crush on figure skater Sasha Cohen.

The 19-year-old White came into the Turin Games as the hottest snowboarder in the world. He won all five U.S. Olympic qualifiers, then warmed up for the Olympics by winning two gold medals at the Winter X Games.

Then the star of the counterculture sport stood at the top of the halfpipe on Sunday before his first qualifying run and basically freaked out.

"I think we all saw my first run. I didn't deal with it too well," White said. "I was dropping in and it just hit me, 'Wow, we're at the Olympics.' I never really felt that before. I was standing up there and looking at the crowd, not even looking at the halfpipe walls. Looking around like, 'Wow, gnarly.' "

Was it ever. With Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown" blaring over the sound system and an American flag bandana covering his face, he got hung up on the lip of the halfpipe for a moment while trying to stick a McTwist, a 540-degree flip. The mistake cost him points, and he watched as he was pushed further and further down the standings.

White finished seventh, forcing him to go through a second qualifying round if he was to join the 12-man field in the finals.

"I wasn't thinking straight," White told Finch before jumping on a chair lift for his second qualifying run. "I got all Olympic-y. I got that out of the way."

White had a clean second qualifying run, this time to AC/DC's "T.N.T." to advance to the finals.

Then came his gold medal-winning run in the finals, this one to AC/DC's "Back in Black."

"I was standing at the top of the pipe and kind of convinced myself that it was just a practice run," White said. "It was no big deal. I dropped in, did a straight air, a McTwist, went into a frontside 1080, a Cab 1080, a frontside 900 and a backside 900."

Translation: His first move was to soar about 25 feet above the top of the pipe, followed by a 540-degree turn. He did two 1080s – meaning he spun around three times – with different takeoffs and landings. He then spun around 2 1/2 times, twice, again with different takeoffs and landings to earn big style points.

His score of 46.8 points was close to perfect.

"Once I landed the back nine, it kind of hit me that I was at the Olympics and saw that score and I freaked out. I went to the top and just sat there thinking, 'Oh my gosh, are they going to beat my score?' " White said.

Because he had the best score, White went last in the second run. The other 11 riders didn't come close to touching his score, meaning he clinched the gold while standing at the top of the hill. He turned his second run into a victory lap, including surfing up and down the halfpipe walls.

White sought out his close-knit family and they all had a good cry.

"This has been an amazing thing," White said. "To explain how big of a deal this is, I don't think I've ever really shed some tears at any other contest. It got pretty emotional. But I wasn't going to cry."

White and Kass then had this lighthearted exchange:

Kass: "I saw him – he was crying."

White: "It was just tears. It wasn't crying. And it wasn't my fault. The family came up and their eyes were just beet red," he said, mimicking sobbing sounds. "Yeah, that's what happened. It wasn't my fault."

Kass: "Are you trying to deny it?"

In his inimitable style, White spoke both touchingly and humorously about his upbringing. He overcame heart trouble as an infant, and began entering amateur snowboarding competitions when he was 7, with his family's support.

His mother, Cathy, kept breaking down on Sunday.

"I think for my mom it means a lot because I had some heart problems when I was younger," White said. "She brings it up on occasions, like this. She tells me stories about when I was a baby and she could only hold my foot because I was going through these operations and stuff.

"That takes a lot for parents to just almost loosen their kid and let them go out on a snowboard and a skateboard," he continued. "I mean, I don't land all the time. When I was learning how to snowboard, I mean, I got knocked out, I broke my hand and my foot, and I fractured my skull in this one crash. It's been a trip for them as well. That's why I say it's been an honor to have my parents here. I ought to get a gold for them."

Updated on Sunday, Feb 12, 2006 2:40 pm, EST

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