Olympian @shaunwhite is here, and he’s got a big announcement! pic.twitter.com/8YM2soZ9tc
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 23, 2019
Back in May, Olympic and X-Games snowboarding gold medalist Shaun White all but confirmed he’d set his sights on qualifying for the 2020 Summer Games in skateboarding. In an appearance on NBC’s The Today Show, White got a little more specific about his Olympics plans by making an “announcement” just short of the official declaration fans might want.
“I’ve been watching the competitions lately, I got really inspired, I’ve been doing a lot of skating myself this summer,” he said, “and I thought it’d be amazing to go compete at the World Championships in Brazil in September.”
White was quick to point out that the World Championship appearance is just a “first step” before making his final decision on campaigning for the U.S. Olympic team, with just 20 total athletes of each gender qualifying in both skateboarding disciplines for 2020. If he does qualify, he’ll have a chance at being one of just five people who have ever medaled in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Only one of those athletes has ever won Gold in both: Eddie Egan, who captured gold at the 1920 Summer Olympics in boxing and at the 1932 Winter Olympics in bobsled.
“There’s been so much exposure for the Winter Olympics for my career. But I’ve been just as much a skateboarder in my other side of my life,” White said. “That was a goal of my life to really pursue skateboarding and snowboarding and try to be the best at both. I really took a backseat to skateboarding in my career when snowboarding really took off. I’ve been skating since I was a little kid.”
As a five-time skateboarding medalist in the X-Games, White’s obviously carrying a resume that suggests he can compete on an Olympic level. But all those medals were in X-Games vert competition, a discipline that isn’t in the Olympic program for 2020. He’ll be setting out now to qualify for either Park or Street.
“Now that skateboarding is an Olympic discipline it’s going to carry so much weight in the mainstream and show that there’s a career in the sport,” he added. “It’s been a long time coming. There are so many amazing athletes that I don’t think get the recognition they deserve. They’re out there every single day working and training.”
