PLAYBOY: Have you ever smoked pot with Michael Phelps?
WHITE: With Phelpsy? Old Smoke on the Water? No. To be honest, I’ve never been into going there. My friends, I’ll admit, most of them do. Because I’m not that into it, it puts me in a funny position with those guys. And now, because it’s Olympics time and everybody’s getting tested for drugs, you see them just sweating bullets, man. I’m like, Ah, whatever.
Q1
PLAYBOY: Clear this up for us: When you won the gold in the 2006 winter Olympics, were you crying on the podium during the medal ceremony?
WHITE: [Laughs] It was debatable, man.
Q2
PLAYBOY: It’s a yes-or-no question.
WHITE: Seriously, I was starting to get choked up and I was at the point of crying—almost. I mean, my parents were there; the entire world was watching. And I remember Danny Kass made a joke. I swear. So it was a mix of a cry and a humorous thing that pulled me right out of it.
Q3
PLAYBOY: Where is your medal now?
WHITE: It’s funny, because I’ve misplaced it a couple of times. I called my agent randomly and said, “Hey, you have my medal, right?” He gasped—he said his heart just dropped. But he found it. It was in a dresser under a book in his house. And then one day I was in my mom’s car, and I went to put something in the back pocket of the front seat. I reached in and pulled out my medal. It was in a plastic bag. I was like, What? The ribbon had gotten dirty, so my mom took it to the dry cleaner. She gave them the whole deal, and they gave it back on a hanger. She said, “I can’t believe that cost $5 to clean. It was only this much fabric.” So I’m stoked to have it again. It’s now in a safe place in my house in California.
Q4
PLAYBOY: Your father named you after Shaun Tomson, his favorite surfer. How come you didn’t end up a professional surfer?
WHITE: I was probably on a boogie board when I was four or five. I was small enough that I could actually stand on it. I was always at the beach, and my dad just decided one day, “Well, you’ve been running the boogie board. You could surf.” I was seven or eight, maybe. He went out and bought a hardboard and took me out to the water on a huge day. Big waves, and it’s California, so it gets really cold. He was dragging me out over these huge waves. I was like, “I’m not ready!” He said, “Here comes one.” I went under, getting just swirled and swirled. I came up [gasps], swirled more, and then I came up to get air again. I was freaking out, and the board smashed me in the face. I was bleeding. I said, “I hate you, and I never wanna do this again.” So I shied away until I was about 13.
Q5
PLAYBOY: Did you feel as though he was pushing you out there?
WHITE: If you’ve ever met my dad, you’d see he’s not that guy who tries to push something on you. He didn’t say “You’re gonna surf! Just sit in your room and think about what you did.” Nah, it was cool. He was like, “Whatever. Screw it.”
Q6
PLAYBOY: You were seven years old when Burton Snowboards sponsored you. Why did you gravitate toward snowboarding?
WHITE: I remember loving it. The first day on the board, I could kind of get down the mountain. I had been skateboarding at the time. I knew how to turn on skateboards, so it was the same motion as snowboarding. And it slowly just grew on me. The turning point was when I was seven and my parents took me to some events and I started winning contests. I thought, Wow, I am kind of decent at this.
Q7
PLAYBOY: You come from a blue-collar home, and taking a family of five snowboarding every weekend is expensive. How did you swing it?
WHITE: At first we’d take a really small van and drive up and stay at a Motel 6. We’d pile into a room and drop one mattress onto the floor and leave just the box spring for Dad. It was funny because I didn’t know any better. I thought, That’s cool—a slumber party. I was stoked. I had fun, and it made it possible for me to snowboard.
Q8
PLAYBOY: That’s intense family togetherness. Was it ever too much?
WHITE: Man, I spent so much time with my family. We would make food in the motel and the alarm would go off. You were allowed to have only a certain number of people in the room, so those were the days of hiding in the bathroom while the manager came by to check. I’d hear my dad saying, “I’m sorry we set the alarm off. We’re making burritos.” Then we got savvy and bought a bigger van.
Q9
PLAYBOY: Was the van better than the Motel 6?
WHITE: It was cool. We would roll up to Canada and park the van at a spot and ride. It got weird only as we got a little older. My mom was so outgoing she’d go up to people and say, “Oh, Gabe, you don’t have a room. Stay with us.” I remember sleeping in this already-tight van next to so-and-so, and I was like, Ahh, this is so awkward.
Q10
PLAYBOY: How much was the first big check you won?
WHITE: Man, I was 15, and I won my second pro contest ever. I won $50,000 and a car, and then they gave me cash for the car, so it was around $65,000. It was all in cash. I understood. We’re an open family. My mom said, “I make this much money. I’m a waitress.” And my dad works for the city, digging ditches and stuff, and he makes this much money. It was simple math. I could add those up and figure it out
Q11
PLAYBOY: You made money on the side doing stunt work for Disney.
WHITE: It’s funny now because we were talking to Disney people about some stuff recently, and I told them, “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there was a show called The Jersey, and I used to stunt double on the show for this one kid, Elliott.” I did skateboard and BMX stuff and even Rollerblading if they needed it. I mean, the kid couldn’t even ride a bike.
Q12
PLAYBOY: You won silver and gold medals at the Winter X Games while you were still in high school. How did your classmates treat you?
WHITE: That’s when it got weird. I was super-shy. I didn’t know what to do in that scenario. I remember being at school and thinking, Wow, these kids are really digging what I’m doing. This is awesome, and I’ve got all these friends. Then I started to pick apart the friends I had, like, This guy keeps asking me for stuff; this is just getting weird. I realized I was over it.
Q13
PLAYBOY: You’re sponsored by Tony Hawk’s company, Birdhouse Skateboards. Has he ever given you any career advice?
WHITE: He’s just a funny guy; he’s a great person. He has never sat me down and said, “Hey, here’s some great advice.” It doesn’t really work like that with him. He’s just somebody who if you’re savvy enough, you’ll pick up stuff watching him. I was lucky to be introduced to the only guy I knew who could relate somewhat to what was going on with me. I remember hanging with him at airports, getting approached by tons of people and seeing how he dealt with it and how he was cool to every fan who came up. I’d see where he would draw the line and say, “Hey, give me a little space.”
Q14
PLAYBOY: You missed making the 2002 Olympic snowboard team. How upset were you?
WHITE: Well, I was 15. I didn’t really understand what the Olympics are all about. But everybody became aware of it in 2002 because the Americans swept the podium. All of a sudden it was this big deal. It was at that point I understood. I started seeing these guys everywhere, and I was getting phone calls about this guy being the best rider in the world. I was like, Yeah, I’m sure he’s great at that, but he doesn’t do everything. I pride myself as a snowboarder who can ride jumps, half-pipes, rails, whatever you put there. So I was more upset to go through five contests and not make the big party at the end, you know?
Q15
PLAYBOY: What was it like hanging in the Olympic village in 2006?
WHITE: It was tense. I was there when it was in the heat of things, because we were the first ones to go. I was just off the plane from Italy. I was dirty, my hair was huge [laughs], and I was nonchalant and fun. The other athletes were very high-strung, as they should have been; they had to do some wild stuff. I didn’t get to experience the whole deal, though. I know there was a disco downstairs, but I never made my way there.
Q16
PLAYBOY: Have you ever smoked pot with Michael Phelps?
WHITE: With Phelpsy? Old Smoke on the Water? No. To be honest, I’ve never been into going there. My friends, I’ll admit, most of them do. Because I’m not that into it, it puts me in a funny position with those guys. And now, because it’s Olympics time and everybody’s getting tested for drugs, you see them just sweating bullets, man. I’m like, Ah, whatever.
Q17
PLAYBOY: How hard do you take defeat?
WHITE: I’m the worst. It’s hard to describe. I could win the Olympics and later that night you could be winning at cards, and I would be so upset. It takes me to a different place, because I know I’m better at cards than you are, and I know I can do it. It’s what’s gotten me so far. It’s the worst and best thing about me. It’s crazy because I apply it to every scenario, which is not the best way to do things.
Q18
PLAYBOY: That’s a tough way to live.
WHITE: Oh yeah. I started playing guitar when I was about 17, and I was hooked. I played three hours a day, mostly because I wanted to be better than my neighbor. I was a madman. That’s why I describe guitar as my therapy, because you can’t win at guitar.
Q19
PLAYBOY: Does that make it tough during the Olympics, when you’re part of a team?
WHITE: No, because you’re still there to do what you’re gonna do, and you still have your own voice within your sport. You’re still the same person you were; you’re just competing on a different scale and for something that’s bigger than you. At the time I didn’t understand that. I learned all that afterward. I had people at airports break into applause, which is such a humbling experience. It was like something out of a movie, dude. I was 19, and all of LAX had started clapping. It was wild, man.
Q20
PLAYBOY: How much pressure does that put on you to perform this time?
WHITE: Since I was 13 or so, I can’t remember showing up to an event where I wasn’t the guy to beat. I’ve always been that guy. Not that I was the best guy, but I was always the one who was counted on to perform at a certain level. And I like it, man. I think it’s great. I can sit back and go, Wow, if everybody wants to talk to me about the Olympics, that means they think I have a really good shot at doing well. That’s an amazing feeling—that all these people have my back, in a way. To a certain extent they believe in me. I use that. I had a friend who put money on me last time around. I was like [pumps fist], Yeah! [laughs]
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