Starter: Shaun White

Who Is He? Shaun Roger White is the snowboarder you have already heard of, and maybe the only one you’d heard of before the 2010 Winter Olympics (unless you’re into snowboarding and/or saw Louie Vito on Dancing with the Stars). He’s the guy with the mane of red hair that There’s No “I” in Blog editor extraordinaire Rachel described simply as “gorgeous.” As of last night, he’s also the guy who won another half-pipe gold medal in one of the rare live Olympic broadcasts NBC has provided.

Why Do We Like Him? Shaun White is one of those exceptional athletes who single-handedly elevated both the public awareness and skill level of his sport. Just as professional golfers had to change the way they golfed and conditioned when Tiger Woods whooped all their arses when he showed up on the PGA Tour, snowboarders know they have to work their board-riding backsides off just to compete with Shaun White, and if he does lose a competition, they better be ready because he’s going to commit himself to making sure that doesn’t happen again, as he proved last night.

After a recent loss, White went to his private half-pipe and perfected the Double McTwist 1260, which he performed in his second run last night even though he had already secured a gold medal. We like him for putting on that extra special show, especially after cameras caught him amped up and seemingly overwhelmed, saying, “I can’t ride like this” after finding out he locked up the gold. We also like that he wants his Double McTwist 1260, which can be described as flying in the air, spinning, flipping, rocking the house, kicking ass, and taking names, as the “Tomahawk,” the name of  a 30 oz. steak White demolished as easily as his competitors. Of course, we also love awesome nicknames. With nicknames like “Animal” and “The Flying Tomato” because of his redheadedness, how can we resist?

And if you’d never seen him before last night, just know that he’s been schooling people on snowboards and skateboards since he was 11.

*Photo courtesy of bfishadow via Creative Commons License