Snowboarder Shaun White Drops Out of Olympics Slopestyle, Cites Safety Concerns

Olympics starting this week

On Wednesday afternoon, Shaun White dropped out of slopestyle at the Olympics. If I had to wager on sentences I would possibly write while in Sochi, I would have bet my apartment that wouldn't be one of them. Sure, White played hokey pokey with the X Games two weeks ago, but this is the Olympics. And this is Shaun White.

At 2:30 p.m. local time, White and his U.S. snowboard halfpipe teammates were introduced to the media in a precompetition news conference. Not surprisingly, the majority of questions were fielded by two-time defending halfpipe champion White. At first, they were all about slopestyle. White was the lone U.S. athlete competing in both halfpipe and slopestyle here in Sochi, and the size and safety of the slopestyle course has been a major topic of international discussion over the past couple of days. White didn't shy away from the questions, but he didn't tip his hand, either.