Most people equate snowboarding with one guy. One guy that has become the face of snowboarding. One guy that made it fashionable for men to have long red hair below their shoulders. One guy known as The Flying Tomato, The Egg, Future Boy, The Animal, and Mr. Stride gum. One guy named Shaun White. But there might be a new face of the sport as Shaun White announced on Feb. 5 that he would be dropping out of one of his potential gold medal Olympic events.

“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,” White said in the statement, given to NBC’s Today Show. “The difficult decision to forgo 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.”

The slopestyle is a new event for the Winter Olympics, and was met with excitement by all the participants of the historical grand opening. The first runs. The first Olympic competition. The first gold medal. Until the athletes saw the course, and Norway contender Torstein Horgmo broke his collarbone.

“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 Olympics goals on,” White said in his statement.

Reactions to White’s announcement included support and criticism. Many of his competitors believed White’s decision had to drop the event is related to his recent defeat on the halfpipe by Greg Bretz in Breckenridge, Colo, during the Dew Tour. At the event when White was awarded second, he excused himself off of the podium and handed his silver medal to a child in the audience before leaving the event according to New York Times.

Max Parrot, a Canadian snowboarder, tweeted, “Shaun knows he won’t be able to win the slopes, that’s why he pulled out. He’s scared!”

Although there is speculation about his intentions of dropping the event, White’s concerns about safety are legitimate. The course is bigger than the X games model that the contestants have previously competed on. Also, the course has already claimed injuries on many contenders including White who suffered a minor wrist injury after falling on a trial run.

On Feb. 11 Shaun White might be the first person to win three consecutive gold medals in the same event at the Winter Olympics, but he no longer can be one of the few to win two gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Or maybe he can no longer lose at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.