Shaun White Will Attend His First Winter Olympics Since Retiring (Unique)

Shaun White is a bit of nervous about his first Winter Olympics post-retirement.

Whereas the three-time gold medalist had no downside dealing with the stress as a competitor, White, 38, tells PEOPLE he is unsure what to anticipate as he will get able to return to the Video games as a spectator when the Olympics take over Milan in February.

“I imply, I am sort of nervous. That is my first Olympics the place I am simply going to go spectate. The Winter Olympics, not less than, the place I am not competing,” says White, while speaking with PEOPLE about his partnership with (and funding in) the gummy complement firm Grüns.

White, who officially retired in 2022, will “be there in some kind” this winter, however he says the joy will begin in December when his new aggressive sports activities league, The Snow League, hosts a contest in China for Olympic athletes. “I am excited to see the athletes go from our occasion straight to the Olympics. It’s going to be a pleasant form of preview I believe, of what is going on to occur on the Olympics.”

However being on the opposite “aspect of the fence” when the Milan-Cortina Video games kick off will take some getting used to for White. “I do not know. I’ll be on this aspect of the fence now cheering for these different athletes. I do know there will be enjoyable, thrilling issues for me, however I am positive there will be some form of nostalgic emotions going by way of and lacking a component of what I used to do once I was in these conditions,” he tells PEOPLE.

“I believe having the ability to have our athletes to do all these issues goes to make it rather a lot simpler on me.”

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White made his Olympic debut when he was simply 19 on the Turin Winter Olympics in 2006 and took house a gold medal within the males’s halfpipe occasion. He repeated for gold within the occasion on the subsequent Winter Olympics, 2010’s Vancouver Video games, and anticipated to once more in 2014, however as an alternative didn’t make the rostrum in any respect.

Throughout a 2023 interview with PEOPLE, that stated he had deliberate to retire if he gained gold on the 2014 Sochi Video games. “However I ended up going house with no medals. I used to be prepared to complete this entire journey and put a pleasant ribbon on it and stroll away, and now right here I’m, not glad with the end and nonetheless unmotivated to compete. What do I do now? And that was a extremely attention-grabbing turning level in my life, as a result of what do you do in that sort of scenario?”

That second “haunted” White, he informed PEOPLE, however he had a “large comeback” on the 2018 Pyeongchang Video games. There, he gained gold as soon as once more, giving him the closure he wanted to retire.