It's nowhere near his first Winter Olympic Games but you wouldn't know it from the excitement five-time Olympian Shaun White shared on Instagram from the 2022 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.
"Alright, Opening Ceremony number 5," the Carlsbad native said enthusiastically before turning the camera onto the Beijing National Stadium and his USA teammates. "Wow! Alright, what a feeling. This is amazing. So happy!"
The half-pipe snowboarder reveled in the moment. He joked about pasta with snowboarding teammates and posted for a photo with fellow five-time Olympian Lindsey Jacobellis, who lived in Encinitas, California for a time. He gawked at fireworks and chanted for his homeland with a sea of Team USA members.
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From the videos he posted on Instagram, you'd never be able to tell he's been to four of these before.
White has said the 2022 Winter Olympics would be his last. The three-time Olympic gold medalist will be 35 years old at his fifth Olympic Games, which is almost double the age of some of the riders he’ll be competing against this time around.
If you missed the Opening Ceremony early Friday, catch it again on NBC 7 at 5 p.m. PST.
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His journey to get to the 2022 Winter Games was filled with potential roadblocks -- an injured ankle, a bout with COVID-19 and a late, emergency trip to Switzerland for a contest he needed to sew up his spot on the U.S. team.
White will be competing in the Men's Halfpipe, which starts on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 8:30 p.m. with the qualifying round. The final is on Thursday, Feb. 10 at 5:30 p.m.
