Name: Hannah Teter
Birthdate: January 27, 1987
Hometown: Belmont, VT
Olympic Sport: Snowboarding
Torino Medals: Gold, Women's Halfpipe
Sponsors: Burton, Mountain Dew, and
Motorola.
Family: Parents - Jeff and Pat; Brothers - Abram, Elijah, Amen, Josh, The Teter Family Official Website
2006 Winter Olympics women's halfpipe gold medalist Hannah Teter, 19, grew up with four older brothers in Belmont, Vermont. When she was young, her brothers, Abram (Abe) and Elijah, became professional snowboard riders and joined the U.S. Snowboard team. They are still on the team, but did not qualify for the 2006 Olympics. Hannah loved watching them and wanted to experience the fun that they were having. So she hopped on the board for the first time at age eight. Her first lesson was at the Teterıs home mountain of Okemo Valley Resort in Ludlow, VT.
Hannah's older brother, Amen, is the full-time manager and agent for the Teter Family. Hannah's fourth brother, Josh, is mildly autistic and does not snowboard, but he does occasionally ski. And both of Hannah's parents, Jeff and Pat, were skiers, but have been converted to snowboarding by their children. Hannah said in an interview with the Burlington Free Press that her parents have been a large influence on her successes. "Throughout my childhood, my parents were always behind me in everything I wanted to do. Having the support behind me made me strive and keep striving and just have that no-fear attitude."
That attitude led Hannah to becoming a dare devil at a young age. Her older brothers would convince her to jump off the house roof onto a trampoline in the yard while her parents weren't home. She still enjoys jumping on the trampoline and in her spare time also surfs, wakeboards, kneeboards, plays soccer, and does yoga.
Hannah does train at her home facility in Vermont. She lifts weights and credits the thought of
the Olympics to pushing her even harder. She said that she had been squatting 250 pounds. In
Vermont, Hannah still partakes in the Teter Family tradition of making maple syrup. The family
gets together every March when the syrup is ready. And while on the road, Hannah carries some of
it with her. She loves traveling the world snowboarding and meeting diverse people from various
cultures.
While competing, Hannah listens to her iPod. She likes mainly hip-hop and other fast music with positive lyrics. To keep it interesting, her iPod is set on shuffle so she doesn't know what song will be next. She also starred in a movie that was released in December 2005 called "First Descent: The Story of the Snowboarding Revolution." Hannah was one of the five snowboarders documented in the film. The riders were in Alaska and it chronicles their experience on the tough terrain as well as the rise of the sport of snowboarding.
Hannah first made the U.S. Snowboard team at 16. She's been one of the world's best halfpipe riders since the Salt Lake City Olympic Games in 2002. She was the Junior Worlds champion in 2002. She was the silver medalist at the 2003 Winter X Games and then won the 2004 Winter X Games and the 2004 Grand Prix. In 2005, Hannah took bronze at the 2005 World Championships. But nothing compared to the gold medal she won at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
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Hannah graduated from Black River High School in Ludlow, Vermont in spring 2005. Since Hannah competed so much internationally, she completed most of her work independently on the road. She also attended Okemo Mountain School (OMS) until 2004. Hannah said in an interview featured on "Snowboarding on MountainZone.com"courtesy of the United States Ski Asociation that she was not there too often, but the School gave her work to do as she traveled the world. OMS is for competitive student athletes in grades 7-12 who excel in skiing and snowboarding. It works with a studentıs middle school or high school from which they are originally from to complete required coursework. She has said that at some point she thinks she wants to attend college, but doesn't know when.
Hannah owns her own house in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Her bothers Elijah and Abe pay her rent.
The house is complete with a Bowflex and a punching bag to stay in shape. She also skateboards
on the 6-foot ramp in her yard. The gold medal win earns Hannah a $25,000 bonus from the U.S.
Olympic Committee. She also has other sources of revenue with sponsorships from
Burton,
Mountain Dew, and Motorola.
Hannah says she may consider buying a boat soon.
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She's not sure how long she'll continue competing, but has said that she's been having so much fun that she hopes it will keep going for awhile. And one would think that she'll want to defend her gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. |