Shaun White
"The Flying Tomato"
by
Jessica Hoy
(U)
Graphic by Rodrigo (M)
Shaun White, a 19-year-old snowboarder in the Winter Olympics, is a role model for many teens today. Born in California, the "Flying Tomato" grew up with surfers and snowboarders. Shaun White describes how he got his name, "The Flying Tomato": "I was running through the lobby at this airport, before we went to a skate park on this gigantic skate park tour, and I ended up jumping over these bags and somebody's like, 'Whoa, Flying Tomato, calm down.' And it just stuck."
He grew up in the rad world of skateboarders and snowboarders and has won medals in the winter and summer X-games. He's traveled all around the world as a skateboarder and is friends with Tony Hawk (famous veteran skater) and Ashton Kutcher (a famous young actor).
Not only did he win Slope style and Half pipe this year, he was also named the Jeep Outstanding Athlete and took home a brand new Jeep Commander. Shaun's slope style run was probably one of the best of his life. He started with a gap 270 on the flat down box, then a tailside 270 out on the flat rail. He moved into a back 9, cab 10, and switchback 9, followed by a boardside to switch 50-50 revert out on the up to down box. He finished his run with a front 10. In the pipe, he put down 3 tens to get a score of 91 and to win first place.
Shaun won all five of the US Snowboarding Grand Pix series, making himself the first person ever to win every contest in the series. He ended up winning on Friday night and then again on Sunday. After the Sunday contest, they announced the US Olympic team—with Shaun on it. So, all in all, Shaun White proves to be a great snowboarder and a role model for many teens.
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