Japan's Ayumu Hirano wins men's snowboard halfpipe gold; Shaun White places fourth in final Olympics competition

BEIJING — Japan's Ayumu Hirano has won gold in the men's halfpipe at the Beijing Olympics. Snowboarding pioneer Shaun White was fourth in what he has said would be his final competition.

White got a rousing round of applause from fellow competitors and the sparse crowd at the end of his third and final run.

Scotty James of Australia won silver and Jan Scherrer of Switzerland won bronze.

White remained in fourth place after his second run as James jumped into the lead.

The three-time Olympic champion White scored an 85 and was momentarily in second before strong runs by James and Hirano.

The 35-year-old White executed his same run as he did in the opening, including his patented Double McTwist 1260 and then a frontside 1260 at the end, but this time made no mistakes. He pumped his board in excitement after finishing.

Hirano turned in the most difficult run but couldn't surpass James. The sparse crowd booed over the scoring by the judges. The announcer called it one of the greatest runs ever.

First-run leader Taylor Gold fell to fifth.