Olympic Legend Shaun White Moving on to ‘Bluer’ Pastures After Snowboarding Retirement

From a young age, Shaun White has shown an affinity for board-related extreme sports. From skateboarding to snowboarding, the three-time Olympic champion rules the land and the snow. And if you weren’t aware, he is also pretty good with surfboards.

White retired from his illustrious snowboarding career earlier this year after the Beijing Olympics. His skateboarding career has been on the back burner since 2011 when he devoted his time to the snowy slopes. And now, he’s moving on to become a champion of the water.

Shaun White is teaching his girlfriend how to surf

Since his retirement, Shaun White has been spending his clear schedule gallivanting around the world with his girlfriend, actor Nina Dobrev. Just like the snowboarder, the ‘Vampire Diaries’ star is incredibly athletic. They have even shared glimpses of their snowboarding adventures on social media.

In a recent interview, White revealed he has been teaching Dobrev how to take her skills on the snow to the oceans. “I’m teaching Nina how to surf currently,” he shared. Her innate talent for sports certainly helps since the snowboarding legend claims he lacks coaching skills.

“She’s so talented as a snowboarder, which is great because I’ve been in past relationships when they couldn’t snowboard, and I’m a terrible coach. I’m like, ‘You just do it!’” he continued. It seems the popular actor became quite taken with surfing.

“Now she’s got the surfing bug,” White claimed. The newfound passion for the wild waves just adds to their long string of vacation spots. “She’s excited about it, so now we’re trying to find places we can go surf and vacation and hang… She caught like seven waves in Hawaii and it was like she was feeling it, yeah!”

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White has been an avid surfer since he was little

The 35-year-old retired snowboarder Shaun White is the namesake of the South African surfing legend Shaun Tomson. His father was hoping he’d become destined for the waves. Unfortunately, a frightening first experience on the surfboard kept him from pursuing it seriously.

“The day I actually first surfed. My dad got me a hard board and I’ll never forget because it had the Tasmanian devil on the front,” White told Surfer Today. But it all quickly went downhill when he tackled a giant wave, almost drowned, and got hit in the face with his board.

“I’m bleeding and I’m sitting there like, ‘I hate you. I’m never doing this again. This isn’t going down anymore,’” he shared. But despite the initial setback, his surfing pedigree shines through. In 2018, White and his skateboarding mentor and friend, Tony Hawk, surfed at Kelly Slater’s surf ranch.

And his skills left the fans questioning how he had never been properly barreled given his long history on the waves. Currently, White is in Miami, enjoying his post-retirement life on the waves with his girlfriend.

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