A stone's throw away from the medal, Sean White took off his goggles and flashed tears. On February 11, in the third round of the men's U-shaped field skill final for snowboarding at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the American star failed to successfully complete the skating, and the highest result in the final was fixed at 85 points in the second skate, ranking fourth, and did not qualify for the podium.
"Wow!" At the moment of Sean's mistake, the Genting Ski Park "Venue B" erupted into a sigh. Everyone knows that this is the "last minute" that Sean has mentioned many times before. In the future, he will still be the god of snowboarding in people's hearts, according to Sean, he will not be far from the field, he will continue to be with friends who love snowboarding, but on the field, people will never see "flying tomatoes".
Facing the strong impact of 23-year-old Japanese player Hirano Bumeng and a group of young snowboarders, Sean continued to improve his competitive status at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. In the qualifying round, he advanced in fourth place. "I'm not far from the podium?" This half-self-deprecating remark reveals the veteran's ambitions. Sean was the men's U-shaped track skills champion at the 2006, 2010 and 2018 Winter Olympics. When he first reached the top of the Winter Olympics, he was still a dancing teenager. Now, while the 35-year-old is still trying to make two consecutive 1440-degree jumps in the competition, the Australian Valentino Guselli is only 16 years old, and the young players have been able to slide out the moves that amaze him. "The younger generation has fantastic performances." He said, "Of course I wanted to continue to improve my performance in the final slide, but I didn't succeed, I enjoyed the process very much and I am very proud of it, proud of every moment of my career." ”
Crossing the finish line for the last time in his Winter Olympics, Sean White raised his right fist to welcome cheers and applause.
As he passed through the mixed interview area after the game, Sean cried. As in the qualifiers, he held a snowboard and gave interviews at each TV interview point, and for an hour and a half, he almost choked up and walked through this not-so-long interview route. In the meantime, he was uncontrollable several times, crouching down and whimpering. "Thank you" and "proud" are the two most frequent words that Appear in Sean's mixed interview area, greeting every athlete who passes by him and him, and does not refuse to ask for an autograph.
And not far from Sean, Hirano, the silver medalist in men's U-shaped track skills at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, is lifting the "Golden Pier" on the highest podium. As Hirano walked toward the mixed interview area draped in the national flag, a large number of Japanese photojournalists just happened to choose not far behind Shawn's interview position, squeezed into a fan, and directed Hirano Tomon to pose as a fist-clenching oath of strength.
After Hirano came to the mixed interview area, Sean was still interviewing the media from house to house, and Hirano was interviewed much less often and traveled much faster than Sean. However, when the new king of snowboarding approached the old king, Hirano Waso was called by the Japanese team to the end of the track to take a group photo, and the distance between the two was lengthened again. Finally, when Sean was about to finish the interview in the mixed interview area, Hirano came to the location next to him for an interview. At this point, Shaun, who had completed a series of interviews, did not leave immediately, he took a few sips of water, saw the end of hirano's interview, and walked up to shake hands with him and hug him. "Do it again, man." When the two were separated for the first time, Sean did not let go and embraced Hirano again. At that moment, the two snowboard kings completed the handover, and the snowboarding men's U-shaped track skills opened a new era.
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Courtesy of Visual China
Source Client The Winter Olympics | Reporters Li Yuanfei, Chen Jiakun, and Deng Fangjia
Edited by: Kandian
Process Editor Tai Shaofeng