Snowboarding Legend Shaun White Took Help of Technology to Up His Game Just Before 2014 Sochi Olympics

A lecture on snowboarding or maybe a book on the same would be incomplete without Shaun White’s name on it. Yes, the Olympic champion has that big of an influence in the sports world. The reason behind this is the unmatched amount of effort and time he’s invested in it. Apart from that, Shaun White is also an elite skateboarder. 

Not just that, he and his coach worked together to create a safe and innovative space for practicing the sport. Adding a pinch of technology, they made the process even more precise before the 2014 Sochi Olympics. 

Shaun White poured technology into his preparation for the Olympics

The athlete was then aiming for his third consecutive Olympic halfpipe gold medal. He won the first gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the second one at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. So now, it was obvious for White to aim for another one.

This time White opted for a more technologically advanced way to boost his preparation. GoPro, an American company that deals with cameras, helped the snowboarder in achieving that. The GoPro camera allowed White and his coach, Bud Keene, to try new tricks and see if that was working for the athlete. 

A cameraman can’t do what the GoPro camera can. With the help of this, White was able to predict where he would land. The setup consisted of an airbag beside which they placed the camera on a 22-foot wall. 

“When we can see consistently that he’s rehearsing the trick into the airbag and coming down into the pipe,” said White’s coach. “We have a confidence level that he can come down in the pipe the same way.“

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Unfortunately, despite the immense preparation, the athlete could not bring back gold and ranked 4th. Nevertheless, he didn’t stop working hard and achieved his third gold Olympic medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. 

White’s love for snowboarding

The athlete took retirement after the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but that didn’t take away his love for the sport. In an interview before his last Olympics, White spoke about how important snowboarding is to him.

The star snowboarder said, “It’s been my life’s work. And I’m so proud that I’m still able to compete on a high level and I’m going to I’m going to give it everything I have for this Games, like I do every time, and see where the chips fall.”

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His strong willpower is what never lets him step down all these years. Competing at the highest level comes with numerous difficulties. Even then, the athlete stood strong till the end.