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Olympians accuse Shaun White of having a huge unfair advantage

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Shaun White is easily one of America’s most recognizable Olympians.

White has earned two gold medals at the Winter Olympics in snowboarding through hard work, perseverance and determination.

Or did he?

That’s a question that some rival snowboarders have raised as White begins his run for a third gold medal. There’s a belief among some in his sport that White is shown blatant favoritism by the judges.

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The sniping first began after White scored a perfect score of 100 to qualify for PyeongChang at the U.S. Grand Prix of snowboarding, which was held in Colorado last month.

Scotty James, the flag bearer for Australia’s contingent for the Games, echoed some frustration with the judges after he came in second place at the Grand Prix.

“I feel like there have been times I was a bit shafted,” James told the Washington Post. “[In Colorado] I had question marks and had some words with the judges. Not because of getting second place — I am not a sore loser. I was just curious as to the 100.”

“I have openly said [to the judges], [awarding perfect 100’s] is not what you do,” James added.

James backed up his comments by claiming that White would echo similar sentiments.

“Shaun, if he looked at that run, he would tell you that wasn’t a perfect 100,” James claimed.

White’s coach, J.J. Thomas, seemed cognizant of the criticism that would be levied towards White.

“When we saw the 100, me and Shaun were like, ‘oh, here we go, people are going to be hounding us, dude. Saying, no such thing as 100,’” Thomas said.

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“Every [other] snowboarder starts from the bottom and they earn their points,” British snowboarder Aimee Fuller said.

She claimed that White benefited from a wholly different grading curve.

“Shaun starts at the top and they deduct his points, so unless he does anything particularly wrong, he’s staying at the top,” Fuller said.

White is still recovering from a nasty injury suffered in October which required 62 stitches, including some on his tongue.

White will begin qualifying for the men’s halfpipe competition on Monday.

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Scott Kelnhofer is a writer for The Western Journal and Conservative Tribune. A native of Milwaukee, he currently resides in Phoenix.
Scott Kelnhofer is a writer for The Western Journal and Conservative Tribune. He has more than 20 years of experience in print and broadcast journalism. A native of Milwaukee, he has resided in Phoenix since 2012.
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