Hannah Teter (born January 27, 1987) is an American

snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

. She is an

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

, having won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the

halfpipe A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, skating, and scooter riding. Overview The structure resembles a cross-section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave ra ...

at the

2006 Winter Olympic Games The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Torino, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

and silver at the

2010 Winter Olympic Games )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

in Vancouver.Hannah Teter
Teamusa.org. Retrieved on 2014-04-12. She has also won bronze at the 2005 FIS World Championships at

Whistler, British Columbia Whistler ( Lillooet/Ucwalmícwts: Cwitima, ; Squamish/Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Sḵwiḵw, ) is a resort municipality in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mounta ...

, and has a total of six

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

victories in her career. In January 2010, Teter was named to the US Team for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

in Vancouver. She won the silver medal in women's halfpipe at the Vancouver Games. Teter came in fourth at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

. In 2010, Teter was one of the four American athletes chosen to model for ''

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue The ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue is published annually by American magazine ''Sports Illustrated'' and features female fashion models, celebrities and athletes wearing swimwear in various locales around the world. The highly coveted cov ...

,'' in a section devoted to Winter Olympians. Teter is noted for her charitable work and is the founder of Hannah's Gold charitable organisation. She is also the Global Ambassador for

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...

Early life and career

Born into a snowboarding family in

Belmont, Vermont Belmont is an unincorporated community in the town of Mount Holly in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. Belmont is about six miles west of the village of Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant ...

, Teter is the youngest of five siblings. Two of her four older brothers, Abe and Elijah, have competed for the US Snowboard team, and her eldest brother Amen is their agent and manager. Both of the Teter parents, Jeff and Pat, were skiers, but have since been converted to snowboarding by their children. Teter started snowboarding at the age of 8, taking her first lesson at her home mountain of

Okemo Okemo Mountain Resort is a ski resort located in the town of Ludlow, Vermont, United States. The resort experienced 600,000 skier visits in 2009. Parents Magazine rated it the Top US Family Snow Resort. History Okemo was founded in 1955 b ...

. She is an Okemo Mountain School graduate. By 2002 at the age of 15, she was the World Junior Halfpipe Champion, and had begun riding on the

FIS Snowboard World Cup The FIS Snowboard World Cup is an annual snowboarding competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1994. Since its inauguration, different disciplines have been added and removed, along with categories used to group them. ...

circuit. Teter achieved a 4th-place finish in her first World Cup halfpipe event at

Valle Nevado Valle Nevado (''Snowy Valley'' in the Spanish language) is a ski resort located on the El Plomo foothills in the Andes Mountains, at 46 km to the east of Santiago, the capital of Chile. Founded in 1988 by French entrepreneurs, it includes ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, in September of that year.

Ben & Jerry's Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, the company went from a single ice cream p ...

limited edition flavor "Maple Blondie" was created in her honor. Teter became

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

after watching the film ''

Earthlings Earthling or Earthlings may refer to: Film and television * ''Earthling'' (film), a 2010 sci-fi film * ''Earthlings'' (film), a 2005 animal rights documentary * ''The Earthling'', a 1980 drama film * "Earthling" (''Fringe''), a 2009 TV episode ...

'', and credits her

plant-based diet A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. Plant-based diets encompass a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of plant products such as vegetables, fru ...

as taking her to a "whole other level" as an athlete.

Professional career

From 2002–2004 Teter competed in seven World Cup events with four victories, at

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

in 2003 and 2004, Valle Nevado in 2003, and at

Saas-Fee Saas-Fee () is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The village is situated on a high mountain plateau at 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), surrounded ...

in 2004. Competing at the

Winter X Games Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures d ...

, Teter won bronze in 2003, and gold in 2004. In 2005, Teter reached the podium with a third-place finish at her first FIS World Championships, and added two more World Cup victories at Valle Nevado. Teter also earned another Winter X Games bronze in 2005. During 2005 Teter was hampered by a

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury which required two surgeries; in her words: "there was a chunk of bone that had separated and it was kind of dangling around." At the

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, Teter was unsure how well she would be able to perform because of that injury. However, she went on to win the Olympic gold medal in halfpipe, beating out US teammate and friend

Gretchen Bleiler Gretchen Elisabeth Bleiler (born April 10, 1981) is an American former professional halfpipe snowboarder. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Olympics. Career Born in Toledo, Ohio, Bleiler aspired to compete in the Winter X Games from a very you ...

, who won silver. Teter's accomplishment was rewarded further by the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

who named her the

USOC SportsWoman of the Year USOC may stand for: * United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee * Universal Service Order Code for telephone wiring * U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tourname ...

. She also won the

ESPY Award An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

for Best Action Sports Female in 2006. After the 2006 Winter Games, Teter spent time focusing on humanitarian causes, but returned to the World Cup circuit in 2009. Since returning from hiatus she has taken the podium at two World Cup events and the 2009 Winter X Games, as well as a victory at the 2009

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...

Grand Prix. At Grand Prix events held on January 22–23, 2010, at

Park City Park City may refer to: a city in Utah. Places * National Park City, London, England, UK; see parks and open spaces in London in the United States * Park City, Illinois * Park City, Kansas * Park City, Kentucky * Park City, Montana * Park City, ...

, Teter had two second-place finishes. The performance locked up her spot for the

in Vancouver. Following the Park City GP, Teter announced that she would donate her $10,000 winnings for the weekend to a

humanitarian relief Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and v ...

fund to aid survivors of the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

. At the

in Vancouver, Teter scored 45.4 in the qualification round for the women's halfpipe, the second place score, earning her a bye to the finals. After the first run of the finals, Teter was in first place with a score of 42.4. In the second run, Teter's earlier score was topped by Australian

Torah Bright Torah Jane Bright (born 27 December 1986) is an Australian professional snowboarder. She is Australia's most successful Winter Olympian, former Olympic gold and silver medalist, two time X Games gold medalist, three time US Open winner, two t ...

, who scored 45.0, a mark Teter was unable to beat in her second run. Teter finished with the silver medal. Fellow American

Kelly Clark Kelly Clark (born July 26, 1983) is an American snowboarder who won halfpipe gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Clark was born in Newport, Rhode Island. She started snowboarding when she was 7 years old, began competing in 1999, and became a me ...

won the bronze medal. Teter finished fourth at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in the Halfpipe event.

Media and business ventures

Before going to Turin for the 2006 Olympics, Teter was featured in the 2005

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the growth of snowboarding, ''

First Descent ''First Descent'' is a 2005 documentary film about snowboarding and its beginning in the 1980s. The snowboarders featured in this movie ( Shawn Farmer, Nick Perata, Terje Haakonsen, Hannah Teter and Shaun White with guest appearances from Travis ...

''. The movie, which was filmed in the mountains of Alaska, starred Teter alongside snowboarding legends including

Shaun White Shaun Roger White (born September 3, 1986) is an American former professional snowboarder and skateboarder. He is a five-time Olympian and a three-time Olympic gold medalist in half-pipe snowboarding. He holds the world record for the most X G ...

and

Terje Håkonsen Terje Håkonsen (born 11 October 1974 in Vinje, Norway) is a Norwegian professional snowboarder. He is considered one of the most influential snowboarders in the history of the sport. In the book ''The way of the snowboarder'', Rob Reed wrote that ...

. A short

behind the scenes In cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK (electronic press kit) vid ...

documentary titled ''AK and Beyond'' was made at the same time, also featuring Teter. Teter and her brother Abe were also featured in the 2006 documentary '' Snow Blind'' about the history of snowboarding and its evolution into an Olympic sport. In 2009, Vermont based ice cream company

created a new flavor in honor of their fellow Vermonter; Hannah Teter's Maple Blondie, a creamy maple ice cream with blonde brownie pieces and a maple caramel swirl. The new flavor went on sale in December 2009, and a portion of proceeds will go to Teter's charity. Company spokesman Sean Greenwood said: "...maple is an easy tie for Vermont but we thought it would be great to do it with a Vermonter that makes a difference." Teter was one of four Winter Olympic athletes chosen to model for the 2010 ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'', in an "Olympic Stars" section of the popular annual magazine. Teter's photo shoot took place at

Whistler Blackcomb Whistler Blackcomb is a ski resort located in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. By many measures it is the largest ski resort in North America and has the greatest uphill lift capacity. It features the Peak 2 Peak Gondola for moving between ...

, the venue for several events of the Vancouver Olympic Games. Teter joined fellow snowboarder

Clair Bidez Clair Bidez is an American former professional snowboarder and research analyst. Snowboarding career Bidez began competing in snowboarding competitions at age ten, after realizing that her brother, Dylan, was having more fun as a snowboarder th ...

, and skiers

Lacy Schnoor Lacy Schnoor (born June 12, 1985) is an American freestyle skier who has competed since 2003. Her best World Cup was eighth in an aerials event in Canada in 2007. Schnoor's best finish at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships was seventh in t ...

and

Lindsey Vonn Lindsey Caroline Vonn ( ; born October 18, 1984) is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer on the US Ski Team. She won four World Cup overall championships — second only amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll — with three ...

who also modeled for the issue. While Teter and the other athletes received some criticism for participating in the photo spread, she responded to her critics saying: "I don't believe in the criminalization of bodies and women having to be ashamed of their bodies. That's just so wrong." In 2013, Teter published an instructional snowboarding book entitled, ''Mastering Snowboarding'', along with co-author Tawnya Schultz. In February 2020, Teter became Global Ambassador for British snow apparel brand ''Oneskee.''

Charity work and philanthropy

In 2008 Teter founded a charity called Hannah's Gold which raises money through the sales of Vermont

maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

. The charity, in partnership with

World Vision In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, helps to support the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of Kirindon,

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

through building schools, digging fresh

water well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. Th ...

s, and providing

water filtration A water filter removes impurities by lowering contamination of water using a fine physical barrier, a chemical process, or a biological process. Filters cleanse water to different extents, for purposes such as: providing agricultural irrigation ...

. In 2009 Teter donated all of her prize money to the Kirindon program. That same year, she posed in an ad campaign for

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

, protesting the

Canadian seal hunt Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in ten countries: United States (above the Arctic Circle in Alaska), Canada, Namibia, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), I ...

. In 2014, Teter was named a Global Ambassador for

.Bane, Colin. (2014-01-30
Olympic halfpipe competitor Hannah Teter joins Special Olympics as Global Ambassador – X Games
Xgames.espn.go.com. Retrieved on 2014-04-12. She says she is inspired by her brother, Josh, who has intellectual disabilities.

Other titles, awards and honors

* 2009 Gold medal at the Burton Australian Open * 2009 Gold medal at the US Snowboarding Grand Prix in Boreal * 2006 Winter Gravity Games Silver medalist, women's halfpipe * 2005 Vans Cup champion * 2005 US Open bronze medalist * 2005 Nippon Open silver medalist * 2005 Winter Gravity Games silver medalist * 2004 Finalist for the ESPY Awards for Best Female Action Sport Athlete * 2004 US Snowboard Grand Prix halfpipe champion * 2004 NASJA "Competitor of the Year" title and award * 2003 Vans Triple Crown halfpipe title + silver in slopestyle * 2003 Became youngest member of the US Snowboarding Team * 2002 First Female Snowboarder to land a 900 in Competition Teter has been nominated for three

ESPY An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

awards.

References

External links

* * * * * *
Hannah's Gold
Teter's charity
Sweet Cheeks
Teter's charity clothing site
Hannah Teter on her work with Children International

World Vision-Hannah Teter-Helping Children in Kirindon, Kenya
More information on Teter's fundraising efforts
Hannah Teter: A Snowboarder with a Social Conscience
ESPN article on Teter's social activism
Shred Betties Interview with Hannah Teter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teter, Hannah 1987 births Living people American female snowboarders Snowboarders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics People from Mount Holly, Vermont Sportspeople from Vermont X Games athletes Olympic gold medalists for the United States in snowboarding Olympic silver medalists for the United States in snowboarding Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics 21st-century American women