X Gamer’s Olympic Goal Isn’t a Half-Pipe Dream

Shaun White is into “snow mode.” He ditched his skateboard in favor of a snowboard, left his home in Carlsbad for one in the powder-covered Rockies.

Wintergreen is his new favorite flavor -- this being winter and with so much green up for grabs.

White is here to compete in the Winter X Games, which run today through Tuesday and offer nearly $300,000 in prize money in snowboarding alone.

He tuned up with a victory at the Session Men’s Rail Jam, worth $8,000, at nearby Vail. He followed that up with an electrifying performance worth $30,000 in the slopestyle competition, during which he became the first person to perform 900-degree aerial spins four different ways on four different jumps.

His “all-four-nines” exhibition was so impressive that another competitor remarked, “I don’t think he’s even real.”

The reality is this: The “Flying Tomato,” as White is sometimes called because of his orange mop of hair, has become one of the most dominating snowboarders in the world.

His three gold medals and two silvers in the Winter X Games, widely regarded as the premier event on the snowboarding calendar, are proof enough. But the Burton team rider has cashed in at so many venues that even he has trouble keeping track of his accomplishments.

Through contest winnings and endorsements, White has a seven-figure income. Before he learned how to drive, he had earned enough to purchase a home near the beach and had won a couple of cars to put in the driveway.

It’s certainly worth noting that White, a five-year pro, only recently turned 18.

But as a young man poised to elevate his already lofty stature -- this will be his fifth Winter X appearance; he also has competed twice as a skateboarder in the Summer X Games -- White has realized that something is missing from his resume.

Now is not the time to think about it, but he does. It’s not a distraction, he assures, but a spark of desire that flickers with greater frequency as winter wears on and as an event of greater magnitude draws closer.

White is looking beyond Winter X to Winter O.

While he wants more X Games gold, he craves Olympic glory, and says that he is not only in snow mode, but Oly mode, with his sights set on the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

“What’s awesome about X Games is that they explain snowboarding so well to people who have never seen it, and show the fun side of it,” White says. “It’s just a real fun atmosphere.

“But there’s something different about the Olympics ... they’re shown all over the world and everybody’s into it. I really want to be part of that.”

The statement speaks volumes about changes in perception that have occurred since 1998, when snowboarding arrived on the Olympic scene in Nagano, Japan. Many athletes went into the Nagano Games reluctantly, in part because they were anti-establishment types but also because they feared they wouldn’t be taken seriously.

Sure enough, one of them tested positive for marijuana and that became the bigger story.

But by 2002, snowboarding had experienced a remarkable surge in popularity. Snowboarders began to outnumber skiers at many resorts and the top athletes, thanks to exposure they received at Winter X and other high-profile competitions, had become larger than life.

Then came the 2002 Winter Games at Salt Lake City, and the captivating 1-2-3 half-pipe sweep -- by Ross Powers, Danny Kass and J.J. Thomas of the United States -- that put snowboarding over the top. Kelly Clark’s gold-medal performance in the women’s half-pipe competition fueled the enthusiasm.

The Olympics were suddenly cool.

“Those guys showed the world and the industry what the Olympics is all about and how rad it can be,” says Keir Dillon, here for the X Games but, like White, with an eye on Italy. “I mean the X Games are rad and everything, but they’re not the Olympics.”

For White, the desire to make the 2006 Olympic team is especially powerful because he missed qualifying for the 2002 Olympics by three-tenths of a point. That figure has been rolling around in his head for three years.

Thomas was the one who edged him in qualifying, taking the fourth spot behind Powers, Kass and Tommy Czeschin. White, then 15, wasn’t sure what he was missing or how much he cared. But while watching the storybook performance unfold before a prime-time national television audience, he knew he was missing something special.

“I just saw what it was and saw the crowd response, and it made me want to be part of it,” he says.

White’s career blossomed afterward. In 2003, he swept both of his events at the X Games, which he considers the toughest competition because only the world’s best are invited.

He might have repeated in 2004, but after winning gold in the slopestyle competition -- performing down a course lined with rails, tabletops and other obstacles -- he suffered a torn knee ligament in superpipe practice and missed the superpipe final.

It was his first significant injury since he turned pro at 13, and during the four-month rehabilitation period, he says, he became determined to come back stronger and more focused than ever.

He appears to have done just that, which is not good news for his rivals.

“Basically right now, Shaun White is ... one of the best snowboarders in the world, hands down,” says Thomas, who edged White for the superpipe gold at the 2002 X Games. “Whether he’s on half-pipes, in [terrain] parks or on rails, he’s just so polished and so consistent that he’s very hard to beat.”

Powers says White has to be considered not only a favorite to qualify for the Olympics, but to place at or near the top during the Games.

“It’s a dream of his because he’s done most everything else,” Powers says.

“Shaun really pushes. Everyone has respect for his riding and for him as a person. He’s a good kid.”

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The Winter X Games also feature skiing, snowmobiling and freestyle motocross disciplines.

Snowboarding and skiing competitions include slopestyle, superpipe and snowboarder-cross and skier-cross races, which blend downhill racing and motocross. An ultracross race will involve skiers and snowboarders in a relay format.

Snocross is a snowmobile race on an oval track lined with rollers and jumps. The freestyle motocross best-trick competition will feature aerial stunts on jumps of 45-90 feet.

The Games will air on ESPN and ABC, with live shows on ESPN beginning at 6 each night.

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Winter X Games

* What: The ninth annual Winter X Games will feature more than 230 of the world’s best winter action sports athletes competing for medals and prize money in four sports: motocross, ski, snowboard and snowmobile.

* When: Today through Tuesday.

* Where: Aspen/Snowmass’ Buttermilk Mountain. There are four ski areas in the Aspen/Snowmass area -- Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk -- all operated by Aspen Skiing Company.

* Today: Skier X men’s and women’s practice; snowboard slopestyle men’s practice; Moto X best trick practice; Skier X men’s and women’s seeding; snowboard superpipe men’s and women’s practice; snowboard slopestyle men’s preliminaries; Skier X men’s quarterfinals; Snowboarder X men’s and women’s practice; snowboard slopestyle women’s practice; Snowboarder X men’s and women’s seeding; snowboard slopestyle women’s preliminaries; snowboard superpipe women’s practice; Moto X best trick practice; snowboard superpipe women’s preliminaries.