Shaun White lost his gold medal
It's OK — he found it. His 2006 gold medal — it was in the back pocket of his mom's car. She had to get the ribbon dry-cleaned. At least that's what the snowboarder claims in this new interview with Playboy (link NSFW).
Here's the story, as told to Jason Buhrmester:
It's funny, because I've misplaced it a couple of times. I called my agent randomly and said, "Hey, you have my medal, right?" He gasped — he said his heart just dropped. But he found it. It was in a dresser under a book in his house. And then one day I was in my mom's car, and I went to put something in the back pocket of the front seat. I reached in and pulled out my medal. It was in a plastic bag. I was like, What? The ribbon had gotten dirty, so my mom took it to the dry cleaner. She gave them the whole deal, and they gave it back on a hanger. She said, "I can't believe that cost $5 to clean. It was only this much fabric." So I'm stoked to have it again. It's now in a safe place in my house in California.
There's a lot more really good stuff. Like how he got started snowboarding, growing up in a blue-collar family, his first big check, and how he used to be a stunt double for Disney. Plus, he talks about what it's like to be the best.
Since I was 13 or so, I can't remember showing up to an event where I wasn't the guy to beat. I've always been that guy. Not that I was the best guy, but I was always the one who was counted on to perform at a certain level. And I like it, man. I think it's great. I can sit back and go, Wow, if everybody wants to talk to me about the Olympics, that means they think I have a really good shot at doing well. That's an amazing feeling — that all these people have my back, in a way. To a certain extent they believe in me. I use that. I had a friend who put money on me last time around. I was like [pumps fist], Yeah! [laughs]
It's a really interesting interview, and it's fun to get a little more backstory. Plus we get to guess which kid he did stunts for. I think we all know the answer.
