Hannah Teter

Hannah Teter (born January 27, 1987) is an American snowboarder from Belmont, Vermont. She is an Olympic champion, having won the gold medal in halfpipe at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. She also won bronze at the 2005 FIS World Championships at Whistler, British Columbia, and has six World Cup victories in her career. In January 2010, Teter was named to the US Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Teter started snowboarding at the age of 8, taking her first lesson at her home mountain of Okemo. By 2002 at the age of 15, she was the World Junior Halfpipe Champion, and had begun riding on the FIS Snowboard World Cup circuit. Teter achieved a 4th place finish in her first WC halfpipe event at Valle Nevado, Chile in September of that year.

From 2002-2004 Teter competed in seven World Cup events with four victories, at Sapporo in 2003 and 2004, Valle Nevado in 2003, and at Saas-Fee in 2004. Competing at the Winter X Games, 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 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 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, 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, who won silver. Teter's accomplishment was rewarded further by the United States Olympic Committee who named her the USOC SportsWoman of the Year. She also won the ESPY Award 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 Grand Prix. At Grand Prix events held on January 22-23, 2010, at Park City, Teter had two second place finishes. The performance locked up her spot for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Following the Park City GP, Teter announced that she would donate her $10,000 winnings for the weekend to a humanitarian relief fund to aid survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Awards, Wins and Titles

• 2006 Winter Gravity Games Silver medalist, women's halfpipe
• 2006 Olympic Gold Medal Champion, women's halfpipe
• 2005 Nokia Snowboard Fis World Cup champion on halfpipe
• 2005 Vans Cup champion
• 2005 World Snowboard Championships bronze medalist
• 2005 US Open bronze medalist
• 2005 Nippon Open silver medalist
• 2005 Winter Gravity Games silver medalist
• 2005 Winter X Games superpipe bronze medalist
• 2004 Finalist for the ESPY Awards for Best Female Action Sport Athlete
• 2004 U.S. Snowboard Overall Grand Prix halfpipe champion
• 2004 X Games superpipe champion
• 2004 NASJA "Competitor of the Year" title and award
• 2003 Vans Triple Crown halfpipe title + silver in slopestyle
• 2003 Winter X Games halfpipe silver medalist
• 2003 Became youngest member of the US Snowboarding Team
• 2002 First Female Snowboarder to land a 900 in Competition

Burton Snowboards

Born into a snowboarding family, 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.

Skis :  Burton 
Boots :  Burton 
Bindings :  Burton

Charity

Teter is also noted for her charitable work; in 2008 she founded a charity called Hannah's Gold which raises money through the sales of Vermont maple syrup. The charity, in partnership with World Vision, helps to support the village of Kirindon, Kenya through building schools, digging fresh water wells, and providing water filtration. In 2009 Teter donated all of her prize money to the Kirindon program. She has also worked to raise money for Darfur and other causes, and is a spokesperson for Boarding for Breast Cancer.


Media and Business Ventures

Before going to Turin for the 2006 Olympics, Teter was featured in the 2005 documentary film about the growth of snowboarding, First Descent. The movie, which was filmed in the mountains of Alaska, starred Teter alongside snowboarding legends including Shaun White and Terje Hakonsen. A short behind the scenes 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.

Teter was also featured in a brief NASA Brain Bites educational video "How Is A Snowboarder Like An Astronaut?"

In 2009, Vermont based ice cream company Ben & Jerry's 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."