Shaun White McTwists his way to gold
By EDDIE PELLS – AP
Shaun White had the trick in the bag, along with an Olympic gold medal.
Might as well go for it, right?
Putting on a show when he hardly needed to, White capped his sensational night on the halfpipe with his signature move Wednesday – the dangerous, spiraling Double McTwist 1260 during a victory lap that will go down as nothing short of epic.
“I wanted a victory lap that would be remembered,” White said. “I achieved that.”
The redheaded shredder scored a 48.4 on the final run, even though he was already assured of defending his Olympic title with a score of 46.8 on his first trip. Getting ready to close the night, he debated with his coaches for a minute, then made the decision.
Showtime! To the delight of cheering fans, he jerked his body around to milk the last half of the 3 1/2 twists he crams into two head-over-heels flips.
An exclamation point on a spectacular day at the games for the Americans, who already had golds from Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn and speedskater Shani Davis, and wound up with six overall medals, including Scotty Lago’s halfpipe bronze.
Wearing a blue bandanna with white stars, all of which goes perfect with the red hair, White easily outdistanced Finland’s Peetu Piiroinen.
“It’s impossible to beat Shaun unless he falls,” Piiroinen said.
Lago’s bronze gave the United States multiple medals on the halfpipe for each of the last three Olympics. Including the women, the U.S. halfpipe team has won 12 of the 21 medals awarded since the sport came to the games in 1998.
Leave a Comment
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
