“It Can Be Kind of a Harsh Comedown:” A Year After Retirement Shaun White Contemplates Life After Making His Exit From Snowboarding

A career in sports is a fantasy almost every sports lover has had. However, it is hard to continue to perform and stay relevant in sports for a long time. Along similar lines, pro snowboarder Shaun White also bid adieu to his beloved sport and hung up his boots last year after making a splash at the Winter Olympics. Interestingly, the Olympian carried the sport?s popularity for around two decades before dropping the curtains.?

Now, after a year of retiring from the snowboarding arena, White conceded about what went through his mind post-retirement.?

Shaun White?s Love for Travelling?

On 30th June, Shaun White appeared in an interview with Sportico. The interviewer, Eric Jackson, asked White what was the thing he loved the most to do after retirement. The three-time Olympic gold medalist revealed that he really loved to travel. He said that while he used to go on the travelling sprees even before; it was always near a work-related location. Now he simply asks his girlfriend, Nina Dobrev, where she wants to go and what she wants to do. ?Well, I?m gonna be here already for this. Why don?t we tack on a couple days and try to have fun? Which is great, obviously, but this is more, like ?hey, where do you want to go what do you want to do?? There?s no real time frame,? said White.

Apart from his love for travel, White also mentioned his new life. He said that switching back to a normal life after something like the Beijing Olympics is a drastic change.

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?You know, after the Olympics, it can be kind of a harsh comedown, you know, when you just pick up normal life again. Like, ?Oh! Back to where we started!? And just kind of, um like nothing happens. It?s it?s an unsettling feeling,? said the Olympian. It is a known fact that people experience blues and restlessness after retirement, and White seems to be having a similar experience.?

Shaun White Faces his Rivals Again

Shaun White also revealed that he recently went on a snowboarding trip. However, this wasn?t just a random trip. ?I just got back from a trip to Switzerland where all of my competitors, well, ex-competitors, were there,? White shared gleefully. He said that he received a very warm and pumped welcome from everyone. Everyone there was just snowboarding. However, this time, there was no competition.?

?I didn?t have that feeling of anxiety that I needed to, like show up, perform through the, you know, the Daily Grind of it. And um, but it was an amazing feeling because it was like, you know, summer camp wasn?t over,? said White, recalling the happy memory. The former snowboarder seemed very happy with this new discovery he had made.?

More so, Shaun White owns a sports apparel line, and a snowboard manufacturing company called ?Whitespace.? He said this keeps him going while not completely breaking his link to the sport.

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