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Beijing (AFP) – Japan’s Ayumu Hirano won the gold in the skateboard competition (half tube) Friday at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, while the veteran American legend Shawn White finished fourth in his last participation in his career.
Hirano finished runner-up to White in the last edition in Pyeongchang in 2018, and runner-up at the Sochi edition in 2014.
White, therefore, failed to win his fourth medal in the field following three golds at the Turin Games in 2006, Vancouver in 2010 and Pyeongchang in 2018.
Hirano finally took the gold, ahead of Australian Scotty James, who won silver, and Switzerland’s Jan Shearer, who took bronze.
Despite the disappointment, White said goodbye to the competition, saying, “I’m not sad but happy,” noting that he was “proud” of what he achieved in his career.
White restrained himself in front of the reporters following the competition, and his face seemed to be moved by saying, “Everyone asks me what legacy I left in sports and my answer to them is ‘Look, you are watching this legacy now.’
White has established himself as one of the “Snowboard” stars since he caught the eye at the Turin Games in 2006 at the age of nineteen when he was crowned champion in the half-pipe competition, and repeated this achievement at the 2010 Vancouver Games, before suddenly failing to get any medal in Sochi, but He returned stronger in Pyeongchang and wrapped his neck in yellow metal.
He suffered a decline in his level in recent weeks and announced before the start of the Beijing Olympics that these games will be his last, pointing to “small signs” related to his advanced age (35 years), especially as he is older than most of his competitors by more than 15 years.
© 2022 AFP
