Original subtitles

[opening theme music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[Shaun] I didn't realize...

the full aftermath that was gonna happen.

It's a different type of fame.

Going to the grocery store,

going to get gas.

I remember pulling up and a whole bus-full of kids jumped out

and just... It was wild.

[Jesse] What Shaun was able to do was not only make snowboarding mainstream,

which, you know, for most parents it's like,

"Man, if you're gonna become an athlete, let's hope at least you make some money."

Um, but also brought, like, a level of respect for the sport.

[Cathy] It was really crazy times.

There was just so much media

and that's when, you know, everybody really knew his name.

[news caster] Were you showing people on the airplane, were people asking to see it?

[Shaun] The stewardess had all seen the, the games

and, and they were so excited to see me. They were like, "You have the gold?"

And after that I was getting drinks

-and I-- -Wait a minute, drinks? You're 19 years old.

Yeah, I'm talking about Mountain Dews, baby.

-Oh... [laughs] -All right.

[news caster] He called me baby.

[Kari] He actually, like, did this.

Like, it wasn't just this childhood fantasy

it was like, we, like, we got there.

[Shaun] I did this all for not only myself but for the family.

From a young age, it was like all of us together in a van every single day.

And it's always been, kind of, like us against the world,

us against the community that doesn't understand,

us against the teachers that say that I'm gonna grow up without an education,

then I'm gonna become nothing

because who'd believe in the sport that means nothing?

[opening theme song playing]

* Every day is just A little white lie *

* Telling myself I'm gettin' by *

* I just stay In this room and cry *

* The snow it covers up The ground *

* I'm the king Of a one horse town *

* I'm the king Of a one horse town *

* And I barely pull My weight around *

[Shaun] After the giant Olympic media tour

and photoshoots and press interviews,

all these things had finally ended, I got home

and I just couldn't understand why I wasn't happy.

I'd built it up so much in my mind,

that if I won the Olympics, that it would just fix everything, you know?

My mom won't have to work again,

my dad wouldn't have to go, you know, dig ditches in the city,

I would get that fame and that recognition and the success

that we, as a family, had dreamt of, you know?

I thought winning equaled happiness.

[man] Get ready, go!

[Shaun] All of my friends had either gone to college or had normal jobs.

So, I was pretty much alone at the house with my mom and my dad and the dog.

At one point or another,

I mean, every family member of mine has, you know, worked for me, you know?

My mom was doing all the flights and accounting all these things,

my dad was, uh, technically our handyman, he was doing stuff

and, um, and my brother,

you know, my brother was doing all the design work, all the creative

for all the sponsors that I had.

How to do this?

So, it was just family unit.

-Jeez. -Yeah, I... It's a lot, dude.

I know, I'm about to pass out.

It's not a healthy title to it or whatever, but

we were basically co-dependent on each other.

He has never come to me about it,

I didn't realize what a hard time he had.

[Cathy] You know, like, when he started,

so we... I don't wanna get into that, i don't wanna talk about, well, money.

[laughs]

[chuckles]

-[Shaun] I'm tired, it's cold. -He's working harder than you right now.

-How did that work? -[man laughing]

Didn't I do it right?

You know, it's a lot to have everybody involved in a certain way,

you know, Mom's no longer just Mom.

[Cathy] I was so insistent on never letting money come between our family

and that was my biggest fear

up to a point where, where I wouldn't let Shaun even spend any money,

I was so strict with it.

I just saw that money ruins families

and I just didn't want that to ever be an issue.

But, I think, I held the reins a little too tight.

There was always this, sort of, pressure, unease about spending money

because we didn't have a lot of it

and I remember [chuckles] at one point just saying, "Fuck it."

I was a 19-year-old Olympic gold medalist and I was making crazy money.

Lamborghini.

-Lamborghini. -Wow.

My mom's terrified of this car.

-[man 1] Lamborghini is not a car that mothers like. -[Shaun laughs]

[man 2] This is actually Shaun's second Lamborghini, the first...

[chuckling] I crashed it.

[laughing] Oh, God, I hated that thing,

oh, I was so mad when they gave him another one.

[Shaun] It was just that perfect storm,

snowboarding had hit new heights,

you know, I had this long hair, this, this recognizable look

and things just blew up.

[reporter] He was recently named by Bloomberg Businessweek

as the second-most marketable athlete in the world.

If you think about it, Shaun, it's one of the most popular things on television...

-[Shaun] Yeah, it is. -...when the Olympics have snowboarding.

-There were 30 million viewers, the last time. -Yeah.

-That was heavy. -Thirty million.

It is amazing, Chuck, I mean, my son can only name one Olympian,

and that is Shaun White.

-[man 1] Shaun White. -[man 2] Shaun White.

-Ladies and gentlemen, Shaun White! -[audience cheering]

-Your neighbor is Tony Hawk. -Uh, yeah.

[Shaun] I mean, I called him once and I was like,

-"I got a video game too, man." -[all laughing]

"What's up now?" You know?

[Kari] Shaun came in and changed the game

and changed the way that people look at it

and it brought snowboarding into so many more people's, like, homes.

It became more like of a mainstream thing.

The sport's grown into more than a sport, it's a culture.

It's, it's, it's a style of clothing, it's a style of music,

it's, it's, like, open-mindedness to try a sport like this.

[commentator] Oh!

[male anchor] Put your hands together for Shaun White.

[Cathy] Okay, now we're this corporation

and I didn't know anything about what I was doing,

so, I'd sit in these meetings with bankers and go, "What's a fund?

I don't know what a fund is. You wanna tell me what that is?" [laughs]

[Kari] I hate describing him as, like, a business

but, like, the minute that it's your bread and butter,

you kinda have to perform

and you kinda have to, like, think about, "What is my brand becoming?"

and "Who am I and what am I?"

[Shaun] I love rock and roll music, so I was like, "I'll be a rockstar."

They've got fast cars, they're partying every night.

-[woman 1] What's he doing? -[woman 2] I don't know.

It's only ten stories! What are you waiting for?

Come on, let's go!

And the people around me,

maybe not my mom,

but everyone else was like, "Yeah, go, go have fun."

I mean, he made it big, he did it big.

We're talking millions.

I mean, to go from...

from a van to beach houses.

In Malibu, we're not talking, like, any beach.

[Shaun] The hard part for me

is I felt like everybody started treating me differently.

They were afraid I was gonna, you know, go off the rails

and by them holding on so much, it pushed me off the rails.

That's when I just started to party, I started drinking.

I'm flying around the world, I'm all over the place.

And, so, once I got pushback from my parents, I snapped.

I was like, "Well, what do we do this for?

Didn't I earn this?

Didn't I deserve it? Did... Is this what we were all working toward?"

My parents are trying to, you know, keep a hold on me, to keep, keep me in the house

and I own the house [laughs] that we live in, so, got a little convoluted.

[crowd cheering]

And tensions began to grow and it got difficult.

My whole world was built off like,

all right, well, if this doesn't work,

let's move the pieces to where it does work and go.

Like, [stutters] find the solution, win.

And it's just work, it's just business at this point almost.

You know, and, and at that time, I didn't really feel for other people,

I, I, I'd say, I mean, I kinda hardened as a person.

I was like, "Okay, cool, I love you, Mom, but sorry."

I kinda had a meltdown when, uh, Shaun didn't want me involved anymore.

He kinda made me step aside and I kind of had a real hard time with that

in the beginning.

My mom took it as, "I'm fired."

And she went, "Okay, well, if I'm fired, then here, take it."

We're really all or nothing in my family.

It's like my mom built this huge company from the ground up

and right as it's taking off,

you know, we're handing it off to someone else to run and she's supposed to be Mom.

But it's not a company, it's her son.

I mean, looking back, I know now that she was the most hurt by it all.

But, I think, through all of it, you know, we remained a family.

And now I'm so grateful that it happened because I got my life back.

I just go and watch him and enjoy what he did.

[Shaun] The wildest part about all of this

is that I just assumed again, if I could win the Olympics, everything would be fine.

So I turned my focus back to snowboarding and thought, "Well, this must not be it."

There must be more, there... I thought this was the top. This must be the top.

So, I just raised the bar.

It dawned on me, what if we had a private halfpipe?

What if we built our own halfpipe?

And then once that idea started circulating,

the clincher came through and it was the, the best idea,

it was like, "Hey, why don't we build a foam pit?"

So, I can try tricks into the foam pit

and do what they're doing in gymnastics, do what they're doing in motocross.

And, uh, that started what was now deemed Red Bull's Project X.

I got this private halfpipe built, there's a big ol' foam pit,

we're gonna reinvent the sport. It's gonna be crazy.

[Frank] You know, being a, a builder and a former rider,

I, all I care about is what the riders want.

You know, knowing Shaun since he was so young, I can watch him ride

and just see how the board reacts,

see how his knees move, how his body's reacting

and know is the pipe too verty,

is it not vert enough, you know, things like that.

They built that amazing halfpipe with Frank Wells and he took advantage of it.

He elevated his game.

[Shaun] All of a sudden, word's spreading through the community.

There is Google Earth images coming out of the halfpipe tucked away in the mountains,

like, it was a very, you know, now, well-known secret.

And it started to stir up some drama within the sport.

People were like, "Oh, well, Shaun has an advantage.

Shaun has this setup that no one else has."

I'm like, all right, well, yeah, I have it, but...

I thought of it.

I was at home, sitting there thinking,

"I gotta win this next Olympics, like, how am I gonna do that?"

[all whooping]

[Jack] As soon as we heard about it, we were just like,

"Oh, great." Like, as if he wasn't good enough.

[JJ] Oh, yeah, at the time it was this group called the Frends crew.

Which was this really awesome group of kids,

we're talking, Danny Davis, Luke Mitrani, Jack Mitrani,

Scotty Lago, Mason Aguirre...

Come on, Kevin, you're so rad!

[Luke] Yeah!

[JJ] I mean, these kids were good.

And it was, kind of, them versus Shaun.

Pretty much just trying to keep snowboarding to the core,

I think, is what it is.

-Oh, God. -Uh-oh.

We're... too late for that.

I've known Kevin Pearce and a lot of these snowboarders

for as long as I can remember.

I remember thinking, I'm gonna be a part of the crew one day.

They're gonna [laughs] come ask me to be part of this group

and no one ever did.

And, yeah, I laugh about it now, but back then like...

-that was awful. -[crowd cheering]

[Shaun] It really fueled my snowboarding

and every single time I would win,

it was just kind of like a hit to that group.

[Jack] Competing against Shaun is basically competing against a robot.

It's like playing chess on the computer and setting it to "Expert,"

you know, you'll never win.

And he proved that by winning every single contest the Olympic year.

And then the following year, at the Nippon Open, a miracle happened...

[female announcer] Kevin Pearce from the United States on board.

[audience whooping]

When I head Kevin beat Shaun, I was just like,

"Wow, did Shaun fall?"

It was like, "No, Shaun landed his run and Kevin landed a better run."

I was just like, "Wow, that's insane."

[Kevin] Heavy drop then after Shaun, he did that front 12,

so I knew I had to step it up and it worked out.

[Shaun] All the competitors of mine had, now, reached my age.

Where I was the young guy, now everybody was around my age,

we were all gunning for the same thing.

It was great. [laughs]

You know, uh, competitively speaking,

I don't think, for my mental wellness, it was great

but at the time, just to have like a blatant, like, "We're going to war."

[crowd cheering]

[man] You know what, though, we were so gonna beat you, man, so gonna beat you.

-Hey, I beat him last week. That's not good enough for ya? -[man] I know.

-I want you to beat him next week... -Come on,

-he's good! -...and the week after!

I'm working on it.

[JJ] Kevin was like, "Well, now we need to go learn all these tricks

if we wanna even, you know, be on the same level."

So, Shaun got his pipe

and then they went to their sponsors and said, "Can you make us a pipe?"

They made one in Mammoth a couple weeks later.

And, uh, it kinda created this little battle, but it progressed the sport.

Kevin was the first person to bring the airbag to snowboarding.

What I was imagining is we just cut it, cut that right there...

-[man] Mmm-hmm. -...and just set the bag there, so these are 22...

[Shaun] Nike built them a halfpipe

and they went out and got an airbag instead of the foam pit.

Which was interesting to me because I was like, "Oh, wow,

I didn't even think to do an airbag. That was probably easier." [laughs]

[Danny] It just opened a whole new spectrum of tricks.

'Cause the trick me and Kev were trying to really dial down was that cab double cork.

[Kevin] I've been trying those double corks,

they've just been giving me the hardest time.

I don't feel that confident yet,

so, uh, that's kind of been a battle for me.

We were just nervous, you know,

it's always scary to do the first double cork, you know?

So, me and Kevin do, like, a little rock, paper, scissor, shoot.

And Kevin lost, so, he dropped in...

[Scotty] Kevin tried the trick...

Came very close...

I happened to look up and I'm just like,

"Oh, my God, that was so bad."

[Shaun] I spotted Mason Aguirre

and he comes up to me and he's like, "Oh, man, did you hear about Kevin?"

I'm thinking, oh, okay, like, he probably broke something,

or, you know, like, what happened?

And he's... He kind of went like, like, like, "No, it's...

He had a bad crash."

[Brian Williams] American snowboarder, Kevin Pearce,

remains in critical, but stable, condition tonight

after a training accident yesterday in Park City, Utah.

[Shaun] Okay, all right.

Bye.

I'd had some pretty bad crashes, I'd been knocked down,

I'd had a couple of things happen, but nothing to this degree.

He, he was in a coma for I, I don't even know how long.

It was scary.

I'm 24 years old right now and I've broken, you know, 23 bones.

Couple years ago, I broke my back and shattered my pelvis.

[therapist] Push up, extend, extend, extend...

Last night, there was a heart-stopping moment

when America's snowboarding superstar, Shaun White,

endured a scary crash, coming up frighteningly short.

[Shaun] I know my own process for doing something intimidating

and the endless pursuit of, you know, um, progression.

Either need to get with it or it's over.

The goal of Project X was to invent new tricks,

something that had never been done before.

And in my mind, I had one trick that I really wanted to get.

It was called the frontside double cork 1080

and I ended up leaving with three to four double corks.

I remember throwing the 1080 a couple times and being terrified

and then just throwing it really hard and...

thinking, like, maybe it should just go to 12.

I threw it really hard and it just, like, landed itself.

And I felt this, like... [exhales]

Like, uh-oh. [laughs]

-Uh-oh. -[male announcer 1] ...double cork 1080.

[male announcer 2] That's what I'm talking about.

[Shaun] And that's how the Double McTwist was invented.

[male announcer] Back and... there it is!

[Shaun] And I'm like, "Oh, my God, I cracked the code."

2010, the sport did a quantum leap

and I was an older dog, I just caught up with the old cork spinning stuff,

and I was like, "Oh, I caught up!" And then double corks.

And then I saw Shaun do a backside double cork 1260 McTwist

and I just said, "I'm never gonna do that. I'm outta here."

At some point, you gotta make that decision as you get older,

do you wanna chase these guys

or do you wanna protect your livelihood and the rest of your life.

[crowd cheering]

[male announcer] 2010...

Vancouver!

[crowd cheering]

[male announcer] Only in four short years, he has become a global phenomenon.

Past season, locks himself up in secrecy,

works on tricks that, really, no one else was working on,

Shaun White, on his first of two runs.

[Shaun] You ever play GoldenEye?

[male announcer] Shaun's moves right now are so much higher than the other riders.

[Shaun] And get the Licence to Kill.

[male announcer] This is unbelievable!

It's like, the one shot, game over,

like, it's just so far beyond what anyone else is capable of.

[crowd cheering]

[Shaun] And they know it,

so, you're showing up and they're already thinking, "Well...

[clicks tongue]

Second would be great today.

[male announcer] Leading the way

for the pioneering and the progression of the sport,

-with 46.8... -[Shaun whooping]

[male announcer] Shaun White jumps on top in gold metal position.

[Shaun] The score hit

and it was... it was massive.

I'm... I'm waiting at the top,

I'm trying not to celebrate too soon

in case I gotta do something crazy.

And no one had beaten my score.

[commentator] Shaun White has secured the gold.

Deliberate in his dedication...

[both cheering]

...he persevered, and what a payoff.

You know, it was like a déjà vu.

I'm standing there again with the victory lap.

But this time, I wasn't going for the celebratory lap.

I was like, "I'm gonna make a statement."

[commentator 1] The move that everyone has been talking about.

The move that some had called the big Mac, the big McTwist.

[commentator 2] I call it insane. You gotta look for it,

the last hit of his run.

So I drop in, and do my double 1080, double 1080,

540, and I just willed it to happen.

[commentator 1] All eyes to this hit.

Oh!

And there it is!

On a victory lap.

[Shaun] I have to say it was more about leaving my mark,

like, this wasn't a fluke from the last Olympics.

I'm here and I've stayed on top

and look where I'm at now.

Yeah, baby!

-You like the down bit? -[man] I loved it.

[commentator] And that is what the fans have wanted to see.

Shaun White double gold.

Boy, does he deliver!

It's athletes like Shaun White that make you think

the impossible is possible.

[crowd cheering]

[Shaun] Everyone's trying to catch up to this trick that I have.

I just need to continue to progress.

As long as I can keep ahead of everyone.

And that was really my strategy for,

I don't know, over 20 years.

I was just trying to just be so far out in front of the pack

that it just didn't really matter.

[exhales]

[commentator] The stakes are high here

at the Winter Dew Tour.

The world's best snowboarders have gathered

today in Copper Mountain, Colorado,

to compete in the Superpipe,

an event with US Olympic qualifying on the line.

A strong group of Americans are on a quest for the podium

and they are led by the greatest pipe rider

in the sport's history, Shaun White.

[crowd cheering]

This is gonna be heavy out here.

There's some tricks, new tricks,

never been done tricks in competition

that some of these athletes have.

We got a great contest coming your way, guys.

What's the run, boss?

[Shaun] Third 14,

cab double 10.

Soft up to front five, pump, double Mcee.

Stick it like a front end 12.

All day, dude.

[commentator] Big power pump, straight into a gigantic 45,

1440 from Shaun.

And washes.

So drama.

Broke my binding.

[commentator 1] Double trouble.

[commentator 2] Three-time Olympic gold medalist,

Shaun White, gonna right the ship right here on run two.

[commentator 1] Shaun White needs to go massive to take down that top score.

Front 14... Oh! And slips out.

Little bit of a stinger there.

[commentator 2] It comes down to one run for Shaun.

He's also looking for podiums

because he has not secured his spot on team USA yet.

Trying to make that fifth Olympic team.

[reporter] The broken binding.

You go back up, you gotta drop in,

walk us through what happened in your process.

Uh, I broke a binding in half on my second hit in the takeoff.

I mean, that run was so perfect. I'm so upset.

Um, but we got one more.

I'm gonna dig deep and try to get it done. [laughs]

[reporter] Yeah, you've been in these positions before though

where you leave it to the third run.

I really don't like it, but I have been here before.

[laughing] So let's see what happens.

-[reporter] Thanks, Shaun. -Thank you.

[JJ] Yeah, tough position to be in right now.

But he's been here before and he's gotta lay it down.

It's kinda do or die.

[Taylor] If there's anything I've learned from being part of this process,

it's that nothing's guaranteed.

I don't feel safe.

I don't think anybody should... should feel safe

until they're there.

[commentator 2] One of the four Americans

to make the final, Taylor Gold.

[commentator 1] Here we go, straight into it.

Giant McTwist.

[commentator 2] Chomps it out. Will he bring the switch McTwist?

He does! This is the one we've been waiting to see

from Taylor Gold.

[commentator 1] And he will go to the top of the leaderboard,

the first man to go into the nineties.

[Shaun] Taylor Gold lands his run.

He's all but set in the contention to make the team.

[commentator 2] As Taylor Gold sits on top right now

with a 92, Jan Scherrer sits in second,

and Ayumu Hirano of Japan sitting in third

with Shaun White currently in seventh place.

[Shaun] I'm sitting there thinking, "Oh, my God,

I got one more run to figure this out."

[JJ] We all right.

You want a 10-10 and just put it in square?

What do you think?

[Shaun] I'm talking with JJ at the top and, you know,

he wants me to push harder, you know,

to do this big trick at the top.

I think you got that 14 if you want it, all day.

-It's a two, just like... -It looks so good.

Dude, that one, you were just super slow,

like, remember, it's a rip off the top.

[Shaun] At this point, I just wanna land a run.

But he wants me to push it so that

if I could just hit the podium, we've locked up the spot

because we don't wanna spend any more time qualifying.

We wanna go train, we wanna get ready for the Olympics.

[woman] Hey, Shaun, you're good to go.

-Yeah, boss. -[crowd cheering]

[Shaun] I'm like, "That's bad."

[commentator] Well, Shaun White delivering after run number three.

The question is, "Will it be enough?"

[Shaun] In the end, I-- I decided to play it safe.

I just wanted to put down a run.

I got to the bottom, the score came in,

it wasn't what I wanted.

[commentator] Eighty-two for him, so White moves up

to seventh place.

[Shaun] And I felt like we'd wasted a competition.

You know, I could've gone for it.

[commentator 1] It all comes down to maybe one of the most creative

and stylish riders in the halfpipe, Ayumu Hirano.

He is a two-time silver medalist

finishing in second place to Shaun White in Pyeongchang.

He's gonna need better than that 95

to win the Dew Tour.

[commentator 2] There he goes!

There he goes, ladies and gentlemen.

-[commentator 1] A triple. -[commentator 2] Oh!

[commentator 1] A triple in a halfpipe competition.

[commentator 2] Oh, my word.

He was feeling it.

-Triple. -Did he?

-Yeah. -No.

-[crowd cheering] -[commentator 1] I think people are still kind of like,

-"Did he just--" -[commentator 2] Yeah,

I-- I need to see it, I need to see it.

Here we go.

Hit number one. One,

two,

triple cork.

-[commentator 2 exclaims] -[commentator 1] That is it, ladies and gentlemen.

[commentator 2] I can't believe he just did that.

[commentator 1] I gotta say this right now,

-halfpipe snowboarding has just changed. -[commentator 2] Yep.

[commentator 1] Ayumu Hirano just changed the competition

landscape for halfpipe snowboarding.

The triple cork has now been presented

in a format of competition.

-First triple in comp. -Yeah.

[commentator 1] ...on his third and final run.

He could've played it safe, he did not.

He went for it, landed the triple.

Everyone's gonna remember the first time they saw

the triple in a competition.

[commentator 1] That was incredible.

[commentator 2] Anyone that has any desires of being on the podium

in Beijing is gonna have to go through team Japan.

[commentator 1] Yeah, without a doubt.

-[JJ] Hey. -Give me ten.

All good. We're building, it's okay, it's okay.

Everyone's getting worked up, we're just one day at a time,

one event at a time.

We're not going crazy here.

Shaun's in a different spot in his career.

He doesn't need to win every event like he used to.

The sport's different. He's older, he's wiser.

Just gonna be a little different for him, but he'll be all right.

[Shaun] The goal is to win

and I'm running into these, like, little injuries, um...

Let me start over. I feel like... [clears throat]

I would say that... that on this last trip to Austria,

some, just, new thoughts came to light and...

I realized, I was like, "Look, it's... it's time. It's time to retire.

I think realizing that it's okay to...

[scoffs] say I'm tired and I'm human

and... and it's gotten harder.

I don't flip as fast as I used to,

and just to even be in the mix at this age

and this amount of time being in the sport

is something to be, you know,

thought about by me. [laughs]

You know, 'cause I never think about it.

I was like, "Oh, you know, whatever. I have to win.

I have to do this, I have to do that."

And just to-- to sit and go, "Wow," like, just the fact

that I'm-- that the sport hadn't-- hadn't just passed me by years ago.

The tricks that I invented years ago

are still holding up in contests today.

Like, those are things to be proud of

and I never stopped to think about it.

And a whole entire career of being

looked at as, you know, superhuman. [laughing]

You know, like, and to finally admit that I'm human

is-- and to myself is hard. It's really hard.

[sucks air through teeth and exhales]

Yeah. [laughs]

Oof, these are bright.

-When does this air? -Airs during games.

Oh, yeah, that's fine. Okay, cool.

Is that better?

Okay. Three, two, one.

Legacy, you know, it's my legacy.

It's like, this is... This is what I wanna leave behind, like...

And this... this will be my last time.

So, um... [clears throat]

[exhales sharply] Sorry. I've maybe said this, like, three times.

So... [chuckles and sighs]

It's a lot to talk about, um...

[clicks tongue] You know, um, this isn't sad.

This is happy. [laughs]

And you've been the face of snowboarding

-for almost 20 years. -Yeah, yeah.

-And you're gonna walk away from it. -Mmm-hmm.

[interviewer] And you're okay with it? You've made peace with it?

You know, knowing I'm... I'm not gonna compete anymore after this

is kinda like knowing, you know, school's coming to an end.

I don't ever have to be on time to class anymore.

No more homework. No more, you know, showing up

to class on time, you know, like...

And for me, it's...

it's a wild concept.

That may be very,

you know, um, normal to hear from other people

but this has been my life since I can remember.

This other life is waiting for me just around the corner a couple months away.

You know, maybe... Maybe a family.

Maybe, you know, all these other things coming my way.

-You sort of bring a whole new type of energy, right? -[Shaun laughs]

-Yeah. -Like, you've never had that type of energy

-before an Olympics, right? -[Shaun] No, it's completely different.

-So let's see where it gets me. -Let's see if it works.

-Yeah, for sure. -[both laugh]

You know, I think people forget. They start seeing

the ads coming on NBC, like... [laughs]

They're like, "Oh, cool, cool, Shaun White at the Olympics."

You know, like... Oh, I... [inhales] still have to qualify, so...

-[both laugh] -No pressure there, you know, but...

You're not worried about not making the team.

-I mean, we... we wouldn't be here... -[laughing] Yeah, no.

...if there was concern you weren't going to make the team.

[Esther] This feels kinda like...

-[Shaun groaning] Oh, my God. -[Esther] Sorry,

-I'm trying to go on the-- -[moans]

[Shaun exhales sharply]

Did you talk about, like, this being your last sitting?

I... I kinda mentioned it, yeah. I was like...

'Cause they're running through all the Olympics,

like, what do they mean to you? And I was like, "Well,

this is important 'cause it was my first, and the second was like...

-[Esther] Yeah. -You know, these reasons.

And now, I'm going fifth and I'm...

-Um-- -So what's fifth?

It's extra special 'cause it's the last,

-um, you know. -[Esther] Yeah.

I'm not... not going for this again.

Which was... Yeah, it was so bizarre.

-But the more I talk about it, the easier it's gonna, like... -[Esther] Yeah.

And the more it's...

I guess, becoming real.

-Yeah. -[Shaun] Anyways, so...

-I don't know. -[Esther] Hmm.

[phone ringing]

[dog whines]

[phone ringing]

[both laugh]

Just booty.

-What happened? -[phone chimes]

-Hi. -[Cathy] Hi.

[exclaiming] Look at that.

Hi, baby Charlie.

-[Cathy kisses] -Aw, miss you guys so much.

[Cathy] The next one is this weekend?

Qualifying's tomorrow, so I'm just, like, gearing up for that.

-But-- -[Cathy] I know, I feel like

you gonna have, like, no friends, like,

no girlfriends. You gonna get in that, like, misery, like,

-all I have is winning. - [laughs]

[Cathy] I feel like, it's like so down.

-Back to that place? -[Cathy] And you're just like...

-[laughs] -Yeah.

[Cathy] Like, when they meet their only friend.

[Esther] The true champions of every sport,

they're kind of have this different mentality.

To us, they're, like, always winning.

But to them, they don't see it that way.

They don't think about how much they've won.

They think about how much more they need to win.

It's never enough.

For me, I had... I had really reached the top in snowboarding.

I had gold medals, I had left my mark.

I mean, I probably wanted to be a pro skateboarder

more than I wanted all the success I had in snowboarding.

[screams] No!

You know, it's just, the grass was greener.

I wanted what I didn't have the most.

And my obsession became how do I became the best

in winter and summer simultaneously?

[upbeat music playing]

[Shaun] I really loved living in LA,

but there were no vert ramps around.

So, I remember Tony Hawk having

a portable skate ramp. So I... I bought one of those

and I would assemble it in, you know,

studio parking lots and, like, abandoned building lots...

[chuckles] ...inside studio spaces, and I would get my training.

And it recreated what I was doing

at Project X, but now on the vert ramp.

* They say a guitar... *

It wasn't easy.

It's definitely frustrating to be number one in snowboarding

and then go into skating to be, like, at the bottom

of the barrel trying to work your way up.

When I was younger, I basically would

finish the winter season, pick up my skateboard

and get after it.

You know, meanwhile, my competitors in skateboarding

are skateboarding year around.

So I not only, you know, have to relearn the tricks

that I learned the previous season,

but I also need to work on all my new tricks.

[Jesse] You'd only have a really small time to learn tricks

to skate, and then to... to kinda get, like,

riled by, like, the other pro skaters.

[Shaun] My first X Games was pretty funny.

I remember dropping into the ramp for a warm-up run,

and right when I hit my first air, I felt something come loose.

My truck had actually broken off my board

and flown across the ramp.

You have bushings and bearings and these little pieces

and they... they scattered all over the ramp.

And all of the vert pros are there

and they're just heckling me.

They're like, "Oh, must've been slushy on that wall."

Like, "Oh, what... what kind of wax did you use?"

[laughing] Like, all these things.

I'm pretty frustrated if I lose at anything.

But, man, did I find my drive.

You, like, you just need that conflict sometimes,

and they just gave it to me. They just handed it to me on a platter.

[commentator] Shaun White, a kid that once people thought

was a novelty to have skating here.

Is this the year that Shaun White gets a medal at X Games?

[Jesse] When he finally got strong enough

and big enough and competitive enough

to be a threat when he'd show up on his skateboard,

he went huge.

[Shaun] I... I got so good.

It was just trick after trick after trick

and every single time I would learn someone's best trick,

I'd just kinda stand there and look at 'em.

And then I got to the point where I learned

everybody's best tricks so I started

to invent my own tricks.

[commentator] Let's get rowdy for Shaun!

Shaun White, he was our leader, top of round one.

[Jesse] You know, the dream, obviously, in vert skateboarding

was to win the X Games.

[crowd cheering]

[commentator 1] That's it.

[commentator 2] Wow! Unbelievable.

It meant the world to get that win.

[commentator 1] Shaun White, third and final run

-just pulling it out. -[commentator 1] That's the way he likes it.

I'm telling you, that's what he needs.

-He's through like that. -[commentator 1] He craves the pressure.

You've done this in the Olympics,

you have an Olympic gold medal,

X Games medals, but all in snowboarding.

To be able to win an X Games medal in skateboarding,

-what does this mean? -[Shaun] Oh, I mean...

Once you taste that first win, it's just like...

Once you know that you can win, it's like, I don't know.

That itself is its own, uh...

addiction. [chuckles]

Hold a little long, feet in, settled.

Just keep the feet on, no matter what. No matter what.

You got it.

You know, there was a time when Shaun, uh, was literally the best

at skateboarding vert and at snowboarding.

He just wants to leave that mark.

[exhales sharply]

[commentator] Shaun White, who was sitting in the lead

with four minutes to go.

Inside, thinking... No, 720.

[Jesse] Shaun was going head to head with PLG.

Like a jam format, so it's as many runs

as you can get in.

And he's falling, he's falling, and finally,

you know, he's... he's coming around the ramp and we see each other.

I just reminded him why he's up here.

This is who you are.

Like, you are here because you love to compete.

This is what you were born to do.

Like, get up there and let go.

[commentator] Sixteen, 720, he's got it.

This could be the run he wants right here.

Oh! Grail, by grail.

[continues indistinctly]

That's the best run we've seen.

Standing ovation inside the Nokia.

The judges give Shaun White that 93.

[Tony] The fact that he won the winter X Games

and the summer X Games, halfpipe events, like,

is unparalleled. No one else has done it.

-Are you done? -[Shaun laughs]

[Jesse] One of the little magical elements that make Shaun Shaun,

is that he wants it all.

He wants that medal and he wants to be the best.

-Nice job, Shaun. -Yeah, thanks!

[interviewer] Um, I'm gonna ask you about your longevity now.

Um, you continue to get better with age,

-constantly setting new standard for tricks. -Mmm-hmm.

[interviewer] Speak on how comfortable you are

with that role, and, um,

what has allowed you to do it for so long?

Um, yeah...

I think a lot of people ask me

what my greatest accomplishment is.

It's like, winning the Olympics

or winning the X Games or doing something like that.

And I always answer, my greatest accomplishment

is to be at the top end of a sport

that's ever changing.

I mean, the jumps get bigger, the tricks get harder.

I mean, I'm inventing stuff.

I have to make up new moves.

I just know that the longevity of my career

it's based off inspiration.

You can't go out there and force it.

Sport doesn't work like that.

You can't win in the gym.

[Shaun whoops]

Yeah, buddy.

[grunts]

The triple...

There...

there.

[Bud] This is probably future stuff

-although, I mean, it's conceivable... -[Shaun] Yeah.

...that you could throw it next week.

You know me. My goal's here.

-Yeah. Yeah. -It's not...

-It's not X Games. It's not The Open, -Right. Right.

It's not the European X Games,

-It's here. -Exactly.

Seven, eight, nine, ten. Sit.

Seven, eight, nine. 60.

[interviewer] What are your thoughts on the addition of slopestyle in Olympics?

[Shaun] It's so important because I think

the sport is more than just halfpipe.

Can I do well in a... in a sport that's brand-new,

uh, in the Olympics?

Unlike the halfpipe,

the slopestyle event

which is a series of jumps

hasn't been done before.

And... and for me to have a first, you know,

it's always nice to get these firsts.

You know, the first time this event was won

or the first time, you know, the highest air...

something, you know, to set these records.

[interviewer] What do you think, um, the money trick will be

- for both slopestyle, and, um, halfpipe? -Mmm-hmm.

Um, I think triple corks...

in both.

-[man 1] Whoo! -[man 2] Yeah!

[man clapping]

That's a stop right there.

Look, dude, here's the thing.

He... If he tries to trip on the snow,

-he's gonna get it. It's right there every time. -Oh, I know he is. I...

-I pushed him to do it. -He's just so sick

-of nailing the bag. -I know.

-[man] Such an impact every time. -[Bud] I know.

-He gets one good one, I'm fucking sending him over. -[man] Yeah.

[man] Thing about doing it on the snow

versus into the bag is that

you're going to land, so...

Because there's a lot more motivation

to land on your feet

when you're doing it in reality.

The bag, you can just lay in on your back,

you know, so, uh,

just raises the level of seriousness

and the... and therefore the success levels.

[Shaun] It's hard, I mean, it's intimidating

to put yourself in that place where you're like,

"Okay, I'm doing this."

Whether I make it or not,

whether I'm gonna be really injured

or I'm gonna, you know, land this, or, you know...

And that's a really heavy thing to do.

It's like trying to walk into a room going,

"Okay, Mike Tyson's gonna punch me in the face.

I'm just gonna walk right into it."

You know what I mean?

People would be, like, "How could you not hesitate?

How could you not flinch?"

You're going over a...

a 90 foot jump.

You have to flip three times,

you know what I mean? You have to do a...

a triple cork, uh, 1440.

[man 1] Oh!

[men whooping and cheering]

Yeah!

[all cheering]

Yeah, baby! Whoo!

-Bring it back there... Awesome, man. -Hey...

Awesome.

-You got that one down. -Dude, I'm like...

-[chuckling] -Oh, yeah. All right.

-Mystery-- -I'm glad too, man.

-Mystery's over now. -Mystery is shattered.

-Yeah. -Everybody's tripping 'cause I'm doing pipe

and slopestyle in the Olympics

but... I see it as it's only helping me

'cause I just got comfortable with triple here.

So now we just take it to the pipe.

it's so mellow.

You know, like that fear, is just [whooshes] out the window.

[Frank] To think that it could go to triples

is, uh, I think it's inevitable.

That's where it's gonna go

and, uh, chances are Shaun's gonna lead

the charge there just like he did with the doubles.

All right, come on, Shaun.

Pop one, pop one.

-Money. -[woman] Yeah!

-Money. -[man] Yeah!

[man] That was it. Just gotta come in.

-Dude, that was, like, three feet inside. -[woman indistinct]

[man 1] Hell, yeah.

[man 2] That's a good one.

[man 1] Oh, shit.

-Could be code red soon. -[woman indistinct]

So a couple... a couple things

I would say... about the triple.

Shaun was the first to try.

Straight up.

Brutal. Like, just a brutal fall.

The physics of that trick

and how Shaun snowboards

are at conflict.

[man] He's too slow.

[Shaun] Fuck.

It's a tough trick for how Shaun's built.

He's got a wider stance

so his rotational axis isn't the same

as some of the other snowboarders

who are a little bit smaller

and, uh, their feet are a little bit closer.

I'm like, my stomach's nervous for him.

He's gonna do another one in the bag, I think.

Yeah, he called himself off.

[Shaun] I just got this, like, weird block, man.

I can't describe it, it's like, I'm just intimidated.

I hate to admit it, but...

-Yeah, shit happens, dude. It's gnarly. -You know? Yeah.

[man] Just as good.

-[Shaun groans] -[man] That was just as good.

And then you just had the fact

that it's a fucking crazy trick.

And there's a big blind spot.

[groans] Just gotta man up, man.

When you fully come in to the back, you're on your feet every time.

-You know you can fucking do this. -This...

You know you can fucking do this.

-[man 1] That's right. -[man 2] Fuck you.

I mean, he's basically landing at... The thing is is that...

It's so deep in his head

that we just watch him land it

over and over and over again to the bag

but if he doesn't put it to snow right...

Like, that's his season. That's his Olympics.

[man claps] Good work, today. Good work.

-[man 1] It's a big one. -[man 2] Don't sweat it, dude. If we don't get it this week,

- we'll get it next week. -[man1] You got it.

-All right? -[Shaun] Yeah.

-You got it. -[Shaun] Fuck. I want it so bad.

[man] Three more minutes.

[man] Yeah, Shaun!

-[man 1] Yeah, baby. -[Shaun] Come on!

Fuckin' through it.

[shouting] Fuck you, you fucking asshole!

Fuck.

[exhales]

Just having trouble psyching myself into it.

-[exhales] Fuck. -[speaking indistinctly]

[Shaun] I know.

[man] Just stay away from the bag.

You don't need the bag anymore.

You need to stop resetting.

Just fucking get in there

and fucking get crazy.

[Shaun] Fuck.

Like I drop in going, "I'm not gonna do it."

You know what I mean? I can't get out of my head.

I'll give anything to turn it off right now.

Anything.

Fuck, it's so cold.

[man] It's a big challenge

because, uh, it basically doubled his workload.

I mean, now he has to practice for slopestyle,

practice for halfpipe, rest,

practice for slopestyle practice for halfpipe,

rest, qualify for slopestyle,

qualify of halfpipe.

It changes everything.

[man 1] Double 14, double 14, triple.

[man 2] That's right.

-Fucking double gold, motherfucker. -[man 1] Yup.

-[lively music playing] -Thirty six, thirty seven.

Gold in Sochi.

Gold in Sochi.

Gold in Sochi.

[chuckles]

Forty. Next.

[man] You know, going into Sochi,

Shaun was absolutely favored to win.

I mean, he was winning forever.

Ten years at this point,

like, that's just, that's a lot.

-[reporter] So, Shaun... -Yeah.

...do you think it's quite possible

to be three times halfpipe champion

-in the first ever slopestyle? -Mmm-hmm.

I hope so.

I think over a time, like, he... he hit a point

where he's like, I can do everything.

[Shaun groans]

It had been months of me trying to work up

the courage to do this trick.

I was just beating my head against the wall

and all I can think inside was, "If I could just do this trick,

I could win the next Olympics

and I could retire and I'll be happy."

I was still thinking

that the winning would produce this happiness

that I needed.

[man] What do you think of the jumps, Cathy?

I think they're a little too big.

Oh, come on, man.

[Shaun grunts]

Oh, heck.

Fucking fuck.

[exhales]

I wonder if I should work on the cab.

You gotta rest your head sometimes too or whatever.

You don't tend to chill very much.

You know what I mean?

[grunts]

[groans]

Fuck!

[commentator] And a big welcome to everybody here.

Sprint U.S. Grand Prix of Snowboarding.

It's all about a slopestyle under the sunny skies here

in Mammoth.

Can't ask for a better day for slopestyle, can we?

[interviewer] Talk about the burden of expectation, you know?

It's, uh... There's an expectation

that every time you go out there, um,

you not only have to beat everyone in the field,

but you've really gotta beat yourself

'cause, um, everyone expects a performance better than your last.

-Uh-huh. -[interviewer] How do you deal with that?

I love it.

I love the expectation.

It's what... It's what helps get me there.

[man 1] Yeah, Shaun.

[man 2] All right, we're all clear for 33.

[commentator 1] In the race to represent the US himself,

here comes Shaun White.

Snowboard slopestyle qualifier number four.

Now at the jumps, backside spin, backside,

and he... looks back... I'm sorry--

[commentator 2] Whoa, oh!

[commentator 1] And Shaun is down.

[commentator 2] That's not good.

-This isn't-- -[commentator 1] Oh, man.

He caught that toe edge there.

That was a brutal, brutal crash.

-Coming up to... -[commentator 2] We're gonna send patrol down to you.

If you're within earshot, we're gonna check you out here.

We wanna make sure...

You know, if you are hurt, that you don't move...

or, um...

[commentator 1] He is sitting up right now.

[commentator 2] That was like a 50 foot air,

right? Just to your face, so...

[commentator 1] Yeah. Yeah, not good.

So he will have a second run

if he's even able to take it today.

Now patrol heading down to Shaun right there in there.

That was a huge digger.

And you do it in a... on a slopestyle,

very hard course. It's not forgiving.

And, uh, here's another look at it.

Turn away if you're squeamish.

[man] Is he okay, bud?

I hope.

Checking him out now.

Okay, call me. I'll be down. Bye.

[man] Just checking on him.

Get on the table and relax.

-Just gonna get... -[man] You take two, uh,

Tylenol before.

-I was gonna give him to Advil as well. -Okay.

[Shaun] Hmm. Okay.

How about there?

[grunts]

[groans]

[Esther] And where does that hurt? In the front or the top?

-In the back. -[Esther] Back?

I hate these jumps.

I can't believe I didn't make that first run.

So stupid...

and so perfect.

[exhales]

[man] How you feeling?

Um, just a little beat up.

-[man] Shoulder killing yet? -Bit dizzy.

You guys know how much time we got?

[man] He's gotta run pretty soon.

We have to be out of here in time.

Just do your best, man.

-[exhales] -You knew the slope road wasn't gonna be

-a easy one. -Yeah, I know.

I just didn't see that slam coming.

It rocked me.

Are you gonna change your socks?

Yeah, I'm gonna change my socks.

[exhales] Oh, how am I gonna do this?

[exhales]

[man] You can do it, man.

Yeah, all right.

[Esther] You got it.

[Shaun] So who's locked in?

Who got second and third?

[man 2] I don't know if anybody was locked in.

[commentator 1] Shaun White a little bit gun-shy probably

- after that, uh, first run-- -[commentator 2] Man, that was

- one the most brutal crashes I've seen. -[commentator 1 chuckles]

Like, 50 feet to face.

Here he is. This is Shaun White.

[commentator 2] Nice front flip.

And a switch back ten double core.

-And then there's a cab 12 double core. -[commentator 2] Whoa...

[commentator 2 speaks Spanish]

-[commentator 1] And a backside-- - [commentator 2] Oh!

-[crowd cheering] -[commentators continue indistinctly]

[commentator 1] That was...

Wow, that was...

-Done it now. You've done it. -[commentator 2] Did it.

[commentator 1] That was what you needed. You did it.

- [commentator 2] Whoo! Wow! -[commentator 1] 95.2...

First place!

That's our highest score today.

[commentator 2] That could put him in the driver seat

- to finally make the US slopestyle team. -[commentator 1] Yeah.

[announcer over PA] The winner, Shaun... White!

[all cheering and applauding]

[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!

[Shaun] Mom! Mom.

Yeah, we're going to Russia.

We're going to Sochi.

I love you... Thank you.

[both laughing and cheering]

-[woman] You're going to Sochi. -[Shaun] Going to Sochi.

-[woman] Who's going to Sochi? -[Shaun] Oh, man.

I had a few moments where I was...

wondered if I wasn't.

-[phone rings] -[woman] All right.

-Yeah? -Yeah.

[woman] You want a cup of tea?

Please.

-[woman] You okay? -Yeah, I'm just freezing.

[sighs]

As time went on, I think Sochi was that benchmark

where I realized that I'd been drawing

from the same pool of motivation

and that had just kind of run dry.

[interviewer] In Tokyo, as you know, Simone Biles

uh, started a very, um,

powerful conversation

about, uh, mental health in athletes

and the games themselves.

[man] Nice. Boom.

[man] Whoa!

-You okay? -[Shaun] Mmm-hmm.

As an athlete, you're supposed to be, just, like...

you're strong, you're never wavering.

You're, you know,

the clutch performer

when it's all on the line

you know, you have to be that way.

Like I kinda admitted when we first started talking,

you know, I'm human. It's...

And it's hard to admit that sometimes.

So I was... I was... I was...

you know, um...

I was in a very similar situation,

um, at the Russia Olympics.

I'd taken crazy, you know, crashes and all these things

to earn that spot,

and I got to the Olympics and remember

just standing there going, "This course is just, like... terrifying."

Watching people crash left and right, getting knocked out,

don't even remember flying there, like, all these...

things and I just went, "This... this isn't worth it."

I pulled out of that event.

And I got a lot of backlash

from fellow, you know, competitors and people, and, um...

[news anchor 1] Some of his competitors really hammering Shaun white.

"Mr. White, it's easy to find excuses

- to pull out of a contest when you think you can't win." -[news anchor 2] Oh!

[news anchor 1] MaxParrot.

"Shaun knows he won't be able to win the slopes

that's why he pulled out, he's scared."

White will still compete an halfpipe event.

He's trying to become the first American male

to win a gold medal

in three consecutive winter Olympics.

[Shaun] At this point in my life,

I'd pretty much pushed everything away.

Friends, family, relationships.

Anything that would kind of distract from...

snowboarding and from being the best.

-[commentator narrating] -[man] Yeah, Shaun. Whoo!

-Yeah, Shaun! -[crowd whistling and cheering]

[commentator narrating]

...in 2010...

[Shaun] I feel like it was mine to win.

Felt like I had the tricks. I had the winning run.

[crowd gasping]

[Shaun] And I blew it...

on the main stage.

[woman] Shaun White's quest to win

his third straight gold medal

in men's halfpipe falling short today,

instead finishing in a disappointing fourth place.

[Shaun] I had never been to an Olympics and lost.

Um, you know, all of a sudden the record stopped turning.

[announcer speaking Russian]

[Shaun] It was a difficult time

because it felt like

everything before that was erased.

He didn't win this time so he's no longer Shaun White.

I was finally at that breaking point

and, um...

and that just kind of pushed me deeper into this hole.

I think in my heart of hearts I was ready to retire.

I was ready to do something new.

And it all... it all kind of came crashing down

and I was left

with this, sort of, "What's next?"