Every once in a while, we come across athletes who cross over beyond the realm of the norm. These athletes rise to become legends in their respective sports. One such athlete who has achieved such a level is snowboarder Shaun White.

However, the snowboarder has since retired from the sport. White announced his retirement from snowboarding after the events of the Beijing Winter Olympics at the outset of the meet. So far, the GOAT has stayed true to his words and has not announced a comeback to competitive snowboarding yet.

Coach JJ Thomas’ thoughts on Shaun White

After returning from the Winter Games last year, White appeared in various interviews, podcasts, and talk shows. During one such podcast, the host asked his coach, JJ Thomas, if the world would ever see a replacement for the three-time Olympic medalist.

To this, Thomas replied, “Yeah, that would be great, but I don’t know if we are gonna see another Shaun White. It was just a timing situation, and I just don’t know if we’re gonna see it.”

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“You’re gonna see great snowboarders, they’re gonna keep coming and keep reading them,” added the coach, expounding on the subject.

However, Shaun White’s coach was not quite sure about the world coming across a snowboarder with a similar caliber to the legend.

Affirming his opinion, the 41-year-old said, “But just what he did with, I mean in his prime he would show up to X Games, win slopestyle, win halfpipe, win the Olympics, go to Summer X Games and win skateboarding vert ramp. You’re just never gonna see that again. It was a ten-year run he had that was off the charts.”

What is special about the snowboarding GOAT?

Thomas’ words may seem a little harsh for upcoming athletes in the sport. But there is truth to what he said during the podcast. White did not reach legend status simply because of his three Olympic gold medal wins during his illustrious career.

People consider the snowboarder thus because he set the standards of events during meets. Besides, the sport was invented during the mid-60s. Therefore, when Shaun began snowboarding at the age of 5, the sport was still at a nascent stage.

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However, the same is not true for the sport any longer. White was able to take snowboarding to new heights while evolving along with it. And in doing so, he pushed the limits of the sport; a feat very few athletes can boast of.