Wednesday evening, I was leaving the Gangneung Hockey Arena at the end of my shift when I decided to swing by The Today Show set which is located right outside the arena. I found myself being in the right place at the exact right time as I realized as I approached the crowd that Shaun White was just coming on set for an interview. Earlier in the day, White won his third gold medal in the men’s halfpipe, four years after coming in fourth in Sochi. The day before I had a shift at the Phoenix Snow Park where I had the opportunity to see White score a 98.5 on his second qualification run. During the finals on Tuesday, the majority of our group was at Casa Italia where we watched in awe as White, who was in second place before his final run, won gold. This was only a day after Chloe Kim, also of USA, secured the gold in ladies’ halfpipe. While White would not confirm during the interview whether we would see him on the halfpipe in Beijing in 2022, he did allude to the fact that skateboarding has been added as a Summer Olympics sport. Look out, Tokyo!
Also, be sure to check out my colleagues’ posts about the Medal Ceremony which took place earlier in the evening at the Olympic Park!