Sean white olympics 2010

Sean white olympics 2010
VANCOUVER - Someday, the question about half-pipe will be whether there is any higher the sport can go, any riskier it can get.

Already, this Olympic competition was marked by who was not here. American star Kevin Pearce is still in a brain-rehab hospital after a traumatic head injury on a half-pipe in December. Finland's Antti Autti, a medal contender, broke three ribs and punctured a lung in a crash earlier in December.

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So someday, maybe soon, it might be fair to wonder if the sport has reached its limitations.

The man who has pushed the envelope the most, Shaun White, won his second Olympic gold medal last night on Cypress Mountain. On a day dominated by American stars Lindsey Vonn and Shani Davis, White completed the trifecta with a dominating performance of his own.

First, he locked down the victory with a solid effort on the first run of the final round. Then, gold medal in his baggy pocket, White thrilled the crowd and his competitors and even himself by taking half-pipe to its next frontier with a successful Double McTwist 1260 - White's newest, state-of-the-pipe signature move.

"I just felt like I didn't come all the way to Vancouver not to pull out the big guns," White said after receiving a score of 48.4 for the second run. "I put down the tricks I've worked so hard on. It was the savvy thing to do. Saucy. Keep it weird."

The pre-Olympic talk about challengers from Finland (Peetu Piiroinen), Switzerland (Iouri "iPod" Podladtchikov), and the United States (Scott Lago, Louie Vito) proved to be just that - talk. The gap between White and the other competitors was apparent even to the most novice half-pipe observers.

It was like watching Ryan Howard take on Julia Roberts in the Home Run Derby.

After White effortlessly threw down a 46.8 (out of 50) in the first of two final runs, the second run consisted mainly of desperate boarders crashing as they competed for the silver and bronze medals.

Piiroinen won that battle of attrition with an athletic, mostly clean second run and a score of 45.0.

Lago, who set the pace early with a 42.8 on the first run, won the bronze medal despite crashing on the second. It was the first medal for the 22-year-old from Seabrook, N.H.

Vito, the Dancing With the Stars alumnus, finished fifth. Greg Bretz, the fourth American to reach the finals, fell on both runs.

The only real suspense was whether White would deploy his stunningly difficult and dangerous (two flips and 31/2 twists) trick. He cruised through qualifying early yesterday without taxing himself. That was understandable, since White fell on his first qualifying run in Turin in 2006.

"I'm at the top today, and I'm like, 'Don't you do it again. Don't do that,' " White told reporters after qualifying. Nevertheless, he fell on an unnecessary second qualifying run.

"To be honest," White said, "I'm more nervous in the qualifying than the finals. It's hard to explain, but we've practiced our finals run so much. These runs, you're just in a strange limbo where you do just enough to get in but you don't show everything."

In the final round, White watched the 11 other boarders, assessed the situation, and put up the top score by soaring higher and twisting more gracefully than anyone else.

In the second run, after the "iPod" crashed and Piiroinen came up short, White consulted with his coaches. Should he go for it? There was no risk - except to his well-being. White famously landed on his face in a warm-up run at the X Games last year, then nailed the move to win the gold medal.

"My coach said at the top, 'Don't do this unless you're going to stomp it,' " White said.

He, well stomped it. It was a statement. White is so superior to the field, he locks up the gold medal and then puts on an exhibition.

White raised his arms before dropping in, signaling to the crowd to watch closely. He ran through a clean routine, building up suspense until his final pass. The Double McTwist 1260 wasn't quite as graceful as his other tricks - not yet - but White held it together, landed, and tossed his board in the air in celebration.

Too high? Too risky? Maybe, but last night it was good for gold.