After five Winter Olympics, American snowboarding superstar Shaun White bids a teary farewell

There were tears. Lots of tears. Some laughs and plenty of smiles, but mostly tears, as the greatest snowboarder of all time, Shaun White, bowed out of competition after the snowboard halfpipe final.

«I can't believe it's over,» a teary White said in a packed mixed zone, where everyone wanted a piece of the retiring legend.

«It's wild.»

It was wild then, but it has been a wild ride from the off.

White has appeared in five Olympic Games, starting in 2006 at Torino, where he won the first of three gold medals, with Friday's fourth place matching his performance in Sochi.

He also has 13 snowboarding X-Games gold medals, plus two in skateboarding – a sport he tried to pick back up for its debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, although he did not qualify – but his legacy can't even be measured in weight of medals alone.

No, his legacy was there for us all to see in Friday's extraordinary, historic halfpipe final.

For so long, he set the standard to which all others were and still are measured.

Now, they've finally surpassed him.

«It makes me proud; it makes me pretty emotional,» White said.

«Everybody was asking me what my legacy in this sport has been and, I'm like, you're watching it.

»These younger riders, they have been on my heels every step of the way. To see them finally surpass me is, I think, deep down what I always wanted, you know, to be beaten."

One of those athletes, Australia's silver medallist Scotty James, shared an emotional moment with White in the mix zone.

«He's dedicated his life, like I have, to what we do here and it was really cool to just have a moment with him,» James said.

«Obviously we're competitors and when we're standing up there [at the top of the pipe] it's game on and you don't really think about anything other