Olympics 2014: White Pulls out of Slopestyle, Guldemond, Fellow Snowboarders Take Shots
White Tweeted this picture Tuesday.
Written by Kyle Magin
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Northstar California Team Rider Shaun White announced today he withdrewfrom the Sochi Olympics snowboarding slopestyle competition. The move drew criticism from some teammates.
White cited a practice-run injury for his decision to pull out, and later questioned the safety of Sochi’s slopestyle course, joining a few teammates in voicing their concerns, including female medal favorite and Sierra-at-Tahoe team rider Jamie Anderson. Norwegian medal favorite Torstein Horgmo suffered a collarbone injury practicing on the course Monday, causing him to pull out of the games.
However, the move wasn’t popular with some of White’s Northstar and Team USA teammates.
Truckee resident, fellow Northstar team rider and slopestyle competitor Chas Guldemond took a not-so-veiled shot at White on his Facebook page this morning:
” Stoked to do Olympic qualifiers tomorrow! People say the course is not safe but they are wrong. The jumps are sick and the flow is really good. Dont believe the media hype.
I am real bummed that one our fellow american boys is not here to ride with us because somebody decided not to compete today. Pretty Lame. #shouldhavemannedup
Staying foccused and enjoying the ride!”
(UPDATE: Guldemond has since removed the status update.)
The criticism wasn’t constrained to domestic sources:
“Mr. White… It’s easy to find excuses to pull out of a contest when you think you can’t win,” Canadian rider Sebastian Toutant tweeted.
And, fellow Team USA halfpipe rider Danny Davis, another Truckee resident, took to Instagram to voice his opinions on the media attention garnered by White at a Wednesday press conference the pair attended.
“Just another shaunference, lovely to be here though!,” Davis posted.
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