Shaun White Goes From Teary-Eyed Win to Romance

Feb. 13, 2005 — -- He dazzled the judges and the crowd with his Olympic gold-medal halfpipe run and now U.S. snowboarder Shaun White is hoping he'll catch the eye of another Olympian: figure skater Sasha Cohen.

She's a gold-medal contender in the women's figure-skating event, but may first get a Valentine. White told "Good Morning America" that he first read about his new crush in a magazine and thought he would try to meet her in Italy.

"I'm reading the article, and I was like, she'd be cool to meet … and I told some people about it, thought I could see her event or something like that," White said.

The gold medalist said now "everybody is kind of playing matchmaker," and he would "see what happens."

And he just may have a shot at that introduction if his lucky season continues.

White's winning run at the Torino Games was his ninth straight halfpipe victory this year. But despite all that experience with winning, he found himself teary-eyed during the medal ceremony when he received his first gold and stood by teammate Danny Kass, who took the silver.

"I didn't really expect all the emotions," he said. "I'm like, 'Oh, I'm not going to cry, whatever. I'm going to be a tough guy.' Basically, the family is standing there in the front row, and everybody is crying and the U.S. flag is going up the pole and they're doing the anthem."

"It just really hits you pretty heavy once you're up there. I was starting to get some tears in the eyes. It was one of those things I'll probably always remember," he said from Turin, Italy.

At 19, Shaun White is already a veteran in the snowboarding community with major sponsors and a stack of X Games victories. But when he made his Olympic debut, he was initially a little shaky.

He hit the rim of the halfpipe during his first run, in an uncharacteristic slip.

"I really never get nervous at contests anymore because I've done so many," White said. "The whole Olympic thing really hit me, how major this contest is. I was so mad at myself for falling on that first run that I just flipped it around and made myself land everything after that."