Shaun White

The 2022 Olympics will mark the end of Shaun White's Olympic snowboard career. 

White told reporters on Saturday he will retire after the Beijing Games:

"This has all had its amazing glow as I've decided this will be my last Olympics," White said. "I've given it my all, there have been some ups and downs on the way to get here. And with that I feel I've got stronger and better. I'm just so excited about everything. Opening ceremony was incredible. The venue looks incredible. I'm just enjoying every single moment."

White has previously teased that Beijing would be the end of his Olympic career. He told Today in December that this would probably be "my last run."

During his press conference on Saturday, White said there are some knee, ankle and back issues he's been dealing with that led him to make this decision late last year. 

"They were taking away from days in practice, and I was watching the tricks getting heavier and heavier. I was riding down from the halfpipe in Austria, and I got lost, and I had to take this chair back up. And on that chairlift ride, the mountain was closing and I was on my own and I was watching the sun go down, and it hit me: this is it. It was a surreal moment, but very joyous as I watched the sun go down and reflected."

The 35-year-old is taking part in his fifth consecutive Olympics. He made his debut at the Games in 2006. 

White has won gold medals three times, in 2006, 2010 and 2018. He is the only snowboarder in Olympic history with at least three gold medals. The California native also holds the X Games record for most gold medals (15, including 13 in snowboarding). 

He was named to Team USA for the Olympics despite not being able to take part in the U.S. Grand Prix finals last month because of an ankle injury. 

White is scheduled to take part in the men's halfpipe. Qualifying will take place on Feb. 9, followed by the finals on Feb. 11.     

On Friday, the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympics will officially kick off the Games, though competition will begin Wednesday with the first matches of the curling event. 

From the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony on Feb. 20, the Olympics will see events in 15 disciplines across seven sports: biathlon, bobsledding, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating (figure skating and speed skating) and skiing (snowboarding and ski jumping).

There are a record 109 medals up for grabs at the Beijing 2022 Games, seven more than there were at Pyeongchang 2018. Beijing will also become the only city to have hosted both a Summer (2008) and Winter Games. 

How many of those medals will be claimed by U.S. athletes? Which nation will be the most successful? Let's preview the Games, including medal predictions and athletes to watch. 

2022 Beijing Olympics

Dates: Feb. 2-20

TV: NBC, USA Network

Live Stream: Peacock

Schedule: Full broadcast schedule available at NBCOlympics.com

There are plenty of big-name U.S. athletes to watch in Beijing. There are 92 returning Americans, and four of them are competing in their fifth Games: Shaun White in halfpipe snowboarding, Lindsey Jacobellis in snowboard cross, Katie Uhlaender in skeleton and John Shuster in curling.

Eight more U.S. Olympians are competing for the fourth time: Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Humphries in bobsled, Ashley Caldwell in aerials freestyle skiing, Evan Bates in ice dance figure skating, Hilary Knight in ice hockey, Chris Mazdzer in luge, and Faye Gulini and Nick Baumgartner in snowboard cross. 

But in Gracenote's medal projections, the U.S. is projected to finish just fourth in Beijing, with 22 medals overall, behind Norway (45), the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) (32) and Germany (25). 

Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria and France round out the projected top 10. 

It's worth noting that, although all international competition leading up to the Games was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was especially true in Asia, where there were stricter lockdowns.

Thus, China's and Japan's medal projections heading into the Games are something of an unknown, but the nations will surely generate headlines. Japan has the potential to sweep the men's snowboard halfpipe podium, with Yuto Totsuka, Ayumu Hirano and Ruka Hirano ranked first, third and fifth in the world, respectively.

In freestyle skiing, Eileen Gu, who lives in the U.S. but represents China, competes in three events (ski slopestyle, ski big air and ski halfpipe) and is a favorite to medal in all of them. In fact, coming in at No. 13 overall, Gracenote projects host nation China will win a record 11 medals.

But it's Norway that is favored to bring home the biggest bounty for the second straight Games. The Nordic nation took home 39 medals in 2018, comprising 14 golds, 14 silvers and 11 bronzes. That set a record for the most medals by one country at a single Winter Olympics, formerly held by the United States for the 37 it took home in 2010.

With 14 golds each, Norway and Canada also tied that record, which the latter set at Vancouver 2010.

Cross-country skiing is Norway's bread and butter. It earned 14 medals in the discipline at the 2018 Games, with Marit Bjorgen winning five and Johannes Hosflot Klaebo, Simen Hegstad Kruger and Martin Johnsrud Sundby each winning three.

The U.S. has historically been dominant in freestyle skiing and snowboarding, but Japan and Canada could edge the Americans off the podium in those events this time around.

Ahead of his Olympic swan song next month in Beijing, Shaun White finished third in the men's snowboarding halfpipe at the Laax Open in Switzerland on Saturday.

According to NBC Sports OlympicTalk, that marked White's first podium finish since 2018, as he took a three-year break from snowboarding following the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Per OlympicTalk, White is expected to be one of four male snowboarders named to Team USA for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

White told Matt Sullivan of Rolling Stone this week that the 2022 Winter Olympics will "for sure" be the final one of his illustrious career.

The 35-year-old White, who is set to make his fifth Olympic appearance, is the most decorated snowboarder in Olympic history.

He is one of only two male snowboarders to win three Olympic medals, and all three of those medals are gold.

White made his Olympic debut in Turin, Italy, in 2006 and won gold, and he followed it up with another gold medal at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

After shockingly finishing off the podium in fourth at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, White returned to the top of the sport in 2018 in PyeongChang by winning his third halfpipe gold.

OlympicTalk noted that White played it somewhat safe Saturday, as he cruised on his second run since he was already assured of being the top-finishing American.

He also didn't attempt a double cork 1440, which is the trick that helped him finish atop the podium four years ago.

Meanwhile, Beijing favorite Ayumu Hirano of Japan hit consecutive 1440s and won the event with a score of 93.25, while White scored an 84.

Entering his final Olympics, White seems to be favoring health and availability, and the fact that he was still able to finish third without pulling out his best stuff could bode well for his chances of medaling.

If neither White nor any other American finishes on the podium in men's halfpipe in Beijing, it will mark only the second time that has happened since snowboarding was introduced to the Olympic program in 1998.

There was no title Sunday for Shaun White as he gears up toward the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

White finished in seventh place in the men's snowboard superpipe final at the Dew Tour at Copper Mountain in Colorado. He posted a disappointing 30.75 and 10.50 on his first two runs, which put the pressure on the final one if he was going to make the podium.

While he was much better with an 82.00, it wasn't enough to defeat Yuto Totsuka.

The entire field was left looking up at Totsuka, who took home the title with a score of 95.50 with a spectacular final run. He was joined by Taylor Gold (92.00) and Ruka Hirano (89.00) in the medal positions.

Yet it was White who was the headliner, especially after he delivered under pressure in Thursday's qualifying run. As Michelle Bruton of Forbes noted, he posted a score of just 27.50 in his first qualifying run but clinched a spot in the final with a fourth-place finish with a score of 85.75.

Alas, there were not enough late heroics for the snowboarding legend.         

Decorated snowboarding champion Shaun White may be set for his Olympic swansong next year in Beijing.

During an appearance on NBC's Today show Wednesday, White said he "think[s]" the 2022 Winter Olympics will be his "last run" as an Olympic snowboarder:

When asked to explain his decision, White said:

"It's hard to talk about because my whole life I've kind of been looked at as somewhat superhuman, because I do these things [in the halfpipe]. ... I've prided myself on being that individual. And, man, realizing and admitting to myself and everyone else, 'Yeah, I'm human,' it's taken a toll."

The 35-year-old White is the most successful snowboarder in Olympic history with three gold medals.

Snowboarding was first introduced into the Olympic program in 1998, and White made his Olympic debut during the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.

White won men's halfpipe gold in Turin 2006 and Vancouver in 2010 before disappointingly failing to make the podium in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, finishing fourth.

The San Diego native earned redemption at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, however, returning to the top of the mountain as the halfpipe gold medalist.

While White was still at the height of his game then, the 18-time Winter X Games medalist recently admitted that snowboarding has taken a greater toll on his body as of late.

According to Tom Schad of USA Today, White said during a media summit that the "day-in and day-out grind" of doing tricks is "getting harder."

White added that it is compounded by the fact that tricks that were once considered top of the line are now commonplace.

The United States' 14 Olympic gold medals and 31 total medals in snowboarding are the most of any nation by far, and White has contributed heavily to the country's success.

If he indeed commits to retiring from Olympic snowboarding after Beijing, White will have one more opportunity to add to the medal count for himself and Team USA.

The 2022 Winter Olympics will run from Feb. 4 through Feb. 20.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White headlined the men's field at the first of three 2021-22 FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cups at Copper Mountain in Frisco, Colorado, on Saturday. 

The event kicked off the season's U.S. Grand Prix tour and was also second of four U.S. Olympic selection events for snowboard halfpipe leading up to February's Olympics in Beijing. 

While the participants took part in three runs, only their best run counted.

White started the day in impressive fashion, scoring a 75.50 on his first run after throwing down two switch-frontside double cork 1080s into a frontside 540, a double McTwist 1260 before finishing with an alley-oop backside rodeo. 

He finished the first run ranked third behind Japanese competitors Ruka Hirano (89.25) and Raibu Katayama (81.25). 

However, the 35-year-old struggled in his second run, scoring a 64.25 after performing two frontside 1080s, a pair of frontside 540s and a double McTwist 1260. 

Big performers in the second run included Americans Taylor Gold (87.00) and Chase Josey (85.25) and Japan's Yuto Totsuka (87.75), who bounced back from a rough first run in which he recorded a 14.25. 

White had an even worse performance on his third and final run of the afternoon, scoring a 5.00 after performing a double cork 1080 but failing to stick the landing. He finished the afternoon ranked eighth, while Hirano, Switzerland's Jan Scherrer and Totsuka finished on the podium. 

Before Saturday's event, White last competed in March, placing fourth at the U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen. That event ended his three-year hiatus following his victory at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. 

Travis Scott might not be the best on the slope, but the novice snowboarder has a friend who is.

The rap star got some help from Olympian Shaun White this week, and it wasn't long before he was grinding and going airborne down the mountains.

White posted a video showing his protege's progress, with Scott clearly excited after landing the jump (warning: NSFW language):

Scott said in an Instagram post he was "overly hyped," and he had good reason to be. He only got his snowboard January 1.

Not bad progress for 30 days of work. With White's help, he might even be shredding halfpipes by this time next year.