After snowboarder Shaun Whitewon the gold medal in the halfpipe Wednesday night, he was asked how he planned to celebrate. Refreshingly, Disney World didn't get a mention. Space Mountain can't compare to the things Shaun White can do with a board.
"To meet the president of the United States would be cool," White said. "Go to the White House. I'm free for dinner."
Invitations should be pouring in from all over the country after Wednesday night's performance, which capped a record-setting day for the U.S. team -- three gold medals, one silver, two bronze, most in a single day for America at the Winter Olympics.
The three athletes who won gold -- Lindsey Vonn, Shani Davis and White -- are all dominant in their sports. But there's dominant, and then there's dominant. And you don't have to be able to distinguish a Double McTwist 1260 from a Double McFlurry $2.50 to know that White -- who was defending the gold he won in Turin four years ago -- was far superior to the rest of the field Wednesday night. His first run in the finals was so jaw-dropping, breath-taking, awe-inspiring -- and cliche-taxing -- that every La-Z-Boy shredder in America knew the gold had been won.
Five judges graded each run down the 22-foot-high walls of the Cypress Mountain halfpipe on a 1 to 10 scale, looking for the vaguely worded overall impression of the run. White's first-round score of 46.8 was four points better than the next competitorand so superior, he didn't need to make a second run. He literally could have just run right down the middle of the pipe, "which would have been cool," and still won the gold.
Instead, he pulled a new trick out of those baggy drawers: the Double McTwist 1260, which includes two board-over-head flips within 3 1/2 turns. As spectacular as the first run was, the second was better, a 48.4.
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