Shaun White

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.

Snowboarding's tough, because you've got to go to the mountains. For me, I love the skateboard season because I get to hangout at home and still be skating. I don't have to travel to Norway or Japan or these crazy places to be snowboarding.

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.

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

I can't stay away from Chinese food. I really love that stuff.

What drives me now is the fact that I feel like I still have so many tricks that I want to learn and so many things that I can still do. And so many cool things outside of sports that I have been doing.

I've always been a guy who wants to play sports, not watch them.

I always tell people that our sports aren't that dangerous.

I've had dreams about tricks.

Surfers have the most attitude.