AP Gerry Broome
On Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 Shaun White became one of four American men to win back to back gold medals in the same sport. He had already won gold when he made the decision to throw down his newest trick, the “Tomahawk” to score a 48.4 out of a possible 50 in the snowboarding half-pipe finals. White invented this trick which is a double McTwist 1260 a full 3 1/2 twists while most of his competitors were still mastering the double cork. The 23-year-old “Flying Tomato” is said to be the best in the sport, a pioneer who has pushed snowboarding farther than it has ever gone.
Shaun White’s teammate Scotty Lago’s bronze medal run was nothing to shake a stick at either. He rode a personal best with the cab double cork 1080 scoring a 42.8. Lago was edged out of 2nd by the Finnish snowboarder Piiroinen Peetu. When asked what the American medalists would do after the Olympics, 23-year-old White and 22-year-old Lago indicated that they would love an invitation to the White House to meet President Obama. This trip would have to occur after the mandatory celebration and partying of course! Obama has not responded to the request as of yet.
