Shaun White

“I've got to stand up for the sport.”

“When I came back to skating, everyone was like 'Oh you're the snowboard guy.'”

“My dad got me a huge board when I was little. He loves to surf. He suited me up and sent me out on this huge wave. I went under, and when I came out and the board hit me in the face. So I said, I never wanted to do this again. I stayed away until I was 13.”

“I've just had this fight since I can't even remember.”

“Getting into music has changed my personality and way of doing things. I'm far more open now.”

“When you think about it, we're strapping strange planks of wood to our feet and launching off of giant snow walls. It's pretty intense.”

“Having all eyes on me at all times is hard to deal with, but it's great. It feels like you've already accomplished something. It's already predetermined that you're going to do well.”

“It's a pretty heavy thing that happens to me when I'm at competitions. I get so sucked in, I can't really turn it off.”

“I'm proud of the U.S.A. We've done some amazing things. To wear our flag in the Olympics is an honor.”

“Meeting actors and TV personalities is one thing, but I just feel like meeting musicians is the coolest.”

“Skateboarding helps a ton with balance, precision, with air awareness... it gets your senses to be spot-on and it's also a great way to take my mind off things.”

“It's tough now to meet a girl who wants to hang out with you because she likes your personality - who hasn't seen you on TV and is like, 'Hey!'”

“I'm not too big on moisturisers and fancy skin products. I keep my grooming regime nice and simple.”

“I don't know where my first gold medal is.”

“If you eat the same cereal every day it's gonna get old. And if I had thought about snowboarding every day, I would have quit a long time ago.”

“I don't know, I think, in times where I'm really nervous, and I'm really under the pressure the worst possible outcome is for me to start thinking about it. I just do.”

“I was sponsored when I was about seven by Burton Snowboards.”