Hannah Teter
Snowboarding
United States
So, Hannah, how have you spent the four years since winning a half-pipe gold medal in Torino? "I've just been riding a lot of powder," she says, "working hard on and off the snow, visualizing, eating pancakes." That's typical Teter; she's a little rambling, a bit of a hippie, and quick to slip into stereotypical snowboard-speak. She drops more "rads" than a surfer. But since Torino, Teter has turned serious. She started a syrup brand, Hannah's Gold — Teter grew up in Vermont and used to make maple syrup with her family; proceeds from the syrup sales are donated to education and water-filtration efforts in Kirindon, Kenya. To date, Teter, 23, says she has raised more than $200,000 for the Kenyan community. "People there aren't getting sick as much anymore," she says of the people of Kirindon. "They are so stoked."