Shaun White Biography

Picture of Shaun White skateboarding at the 2004 X Games.

Courtesy of EXPN

Birthdate: September 3, 1986
Birthplace: Carlsbad, California

With his big air and big hair, Shaun White is truly one of a kind. A two-sport athlete, Shaun was the first person to compete at both Winter and Summer X Games in two different sports. We got the 411 on this snowboarding and skateboarding stud!

Shaun White - The Beginning

Shaun White was born with a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. He needed two surgeries to help fix it. But not even a heart problem could have stopped Shaun from being active. He first started snowboarding when he was six years old after watching his older brother Jesse trying it. Shaun White started entering amateur competitions a year later. After winning almost every snowboarding competition he entered, Shaun White became sponsored by Burton and turned pro when he was just 13.

Picture of Shaun White, who stars in the snowboarding movie called The White Album.

Courtesy of EXPN

Shaun White - Snowboarding

Shaun White was nicknamed Future Boy when he first started competing as a pro. He was only 13 but was already pushing the limits of snowboarding. White established a rep for getting big air and tying together snowboarding tricks in ways that had never been done before. In 2003, Shaun stomped all over the Winter X Games and every other event he entered. Shaun White won the gold medal in the slopestyle and the superpipe and also took the Games' best-athlete award. A month later, Shaun became the youngest snowboarder to win the US Open Slopestyle Championship. Shaun has medaled every year he has participated in the Winter X Games. He currently has 11 medals, seven of which are gold!

Shaun White - Skateboarding

After setting new standards in the world of snowboarding, Shaun decided to make his mark in skateboarding. White joined Tony Hawk on his Gigantic Skatepark Tour in 2002 and made his pro skateboarding debut at the 2003 Slam City Jam. Shaun finished fourth in the vert half pipe, which qualified him for the 2003 X Games, where he finished sixth in the vert competition. Shaun is also a very creative - he is the only skater to attempt a 1080, although he is yet to land it. In 2007, he won his first Summer X Games medal in vert.

Shaun White - Back In Black And Gold

In December 2005, Shaun White qualified for the 2006 Winter Olympics in halfpipe snowboarding by winning two US Olympic team qualifying events in Breckenridge, Colorado. He became an Olympic champion after winning the gold medal in halfpipe snowboarding in Turin, Italy. His gold-medal run included back-to-back 900s and was run with AC/DC's Back In Black as his background song.