For White, a big comeback on the half pipe

Bongpyeong, South Korea

THE durability of snowboarding, both as an Olympic event and a sport capable of lingering on the edge of the mainstream, can now be validated by its capacity for reinvention. It has been around long enough, and grown embedded enough in cultural consciousness, to facilitate second acts.

Shaun White was 19 and raggedy when he won his first gold medal, 23 and exultant when he won his second, 27 and corporate when he suffered letdown and arrived at a professional fork. Wednesday afternoon on Pyeongchang Halfpipe, he completed his competitive revival at 31 with a reinforcement and a declaration. He remains the unquestioned greatest snowboarder ever, and is once again the unquestioned greatest snowboarder in the world, now with a magnificent final chapter.