Shaun White’s Tomahawk Stamps Men’s Half Pipe Gold At 2010 Winter Games
February 18th, 2010 – By John Ritter
There were plenty of questions surrounding Americans heading into the Olympics, but not for the Flying Tomato.
As close as a lock to at least medal as could be, Shaun White dominated the snowboarding halfpipe on Wednesday with the day’s two biggest runs that gave him back-to-back golds at the Winter Games.
Skiers Lindsay Vonn and Bode Miller both game into Vancouver with their share of baggage for the United States. Vonn, a heavy favorite in almost all women’s alpine events severely injured her shin in a training run and was uncertain to compete at all. Miller had been battling himself after being shut out of the ’06 Turin Games and failing to medal in any professional event in ’09.
But White had been consistent in recent years, and was favored by Online Sportsbooks with a knockout move he calls “The Tomahawk”. Analysts believed any snowboarder who could pull off the move would have the upperhand in winning the event.
White did, in fact, pull off the dramatic spiraling Double McTwist 1260 on his final run, but he didn’t need it. By then, his previous run of 46.8 was good enough for gold.
“I wanted a victory lap that would be remembered,” White said. “I achieved that.
“I just felt like I didn’t come to Vancouver not to pull out the big guns. It was the savvy thing to do. Saucy. Keep it weird.”
His last lap netted a near-perfect 48.8, and sent the crowd into worship mode. He calls it “The Tomahawk” after a steak he ate in Colorado — all 30 ounces of it in one sitting. It’s a double front flip coupled with three full twists that had previously been his bane. He invented the move, but had trouble perfecting it until recently. He tried it at the Winter X Games, but landed face first at the top corner of the side wall he tried to land on. He walked away, but began wondering if he would try it with the world watching
He did. And that was a bad thing for competing countries.
“It’s impossible to beat Shaun unless he falls,” silver medalist Peetu Piiroinen from Sweden said.
White helped cap what was a remarkable day for the Americans. Teammate Scotty Lago took bronze in the halfpipe, and Vonn ended up toughing out her injury and won gold earlier in the day in the downhill.
Speedskater Shani Davis added a gold in the 1000m, meaning the U.S. broke it’s own record with six medals in one day. After being clipsed in the medal count by Germany at the beginning of Wednesday, the Americans are back on top with 14 overall. Germany has 10.
An amazing first run, though, shouldn’t be forgotten. White made two acrobatic spinning flips, getting far more air than any of his competitors to secure the win. He thought about going for “The Tomahawk” on the first lap, but the reality of spilling, and losing that move began setting in.
“I know I (had) it in me, but the Olympics is pretty heavy,” he said. “I was sweating it a little.”
After his first round was good enough to secure gold, he decided that his final lap would be sort of an exhibition for the fans.
“With a gold medal already in his pocket, Shaun went out and beat his winning score,” former champion Jake Burton said. “What a testament to how much fun snowboarding is. And what a true champion Shaun is.”
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Tomahawk – I hear it’s named after a 30-ounce steak that Shaun ate in Colorado?? Nah. Surely it makes more sense that it’s an amalgamated reference to his old moniker ‘The Flying Tomato’, and his old mentor Tony Hawk.
Either way, a kickass run, well worth missing a night’s sleep for. I wonder what Mike McGill makes of it, more than 25 years after he invented the original McTwist.
You say his Mentor is Tony Hawk? Tomahawk… Tony hawk see the relationship?
@Bob
Yup, that’s my point exactly.
Shawn White is sick on the snowboard. He will win the gold again in 4 years with no problem at all.
That kid is a heck of a snowboarder, but he is a little stuck up. His interviews after he won the gold were not the best in the world. He is still young and imateur and could have done a better job with how he handled his win.
Shaun White is a fabulous snowboarder and he seems to be a wonderful young man. There is a few guys in the olympics that have shown little class and he was great with the coverage he had on him. One olympian told a reporter to shut up just for asking him what his name was.
According to Sports Illustrated March 2010 magazine article, page 41, center column, they write
“… the double McTwist 1260, a.k.a. the Tomahawk, named for a sensational steak White once ate at an Aspen restaurant … ”
So there you have it. The trick is most definitely named after a steak.
He was the one gold medal that we pretty much had locked in the bag before the olympics started. That guy can do sick things with that snowboard. Now we just got to win this Canada VS USA hockey game and it will really be a great olympics for the USA.