Shaun White Isn't Going to Participate in the New Slopestyle Event at the 2014 Winter Olympics

He's going to focus on the halfpipe instead.

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Sorry, Shaun White fans. But the snowboarder will not win two gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi this month. White was supposed to participate in both the slopestyle and the halfpipe events at the Olympics. However, a wrist injury and some questionable slopestyle course conditions at Sochi have forced him to withdraw from the slopestyle event in order to focus on trying to win his third consecutive gold medal in the halfpipe at the Olympics.

"After much deliberation with my team, I have made the decision to focus solely on trying to bring home the third straight gold medal in halfpipe for Team USA," he said in a statement released earlier today. "The difficult decision to forego slopestyle is not one I take lightly as I know how much effort everyone has put into holding the slopestyle event for the first time in Olympic history, a history I had planned on being a part of."

White admitted that his wrist, which he jammed during a practice run in Sochi, is OK. But in his statement, he talked about how he doesn't want to risk re-injuring it on the slopestyle course, which has been criticized by many of the snowboarders at the Olympics.

"With the practice runs I have taken, even after course modifications and watching fellow athletes get hurt, the potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other Olympic goals on," he said.

It's a shame that White won't be participating in slopestyle. But it would obviously be an even bigger shame if he did participate in it and ended up getting hurt. So this decision is probably for the best.

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[via USA Today Sports]

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