Hannah Teter

On her public appearances after winning gold in the women's halfpipe

Letterman was rad. He was so nice, and he gave me one of those black jackets that says LATE NIGHT�on the back. I heard that he hasn't given a jacket to one of his guests in, like, three years. Then I went to Daytona to wave the green flag. Sometimes I need to just take 10 seconds to breathe and take it all in.

On growing up in Belmont, Vt. (pop. 328), with four older brothers

My favorite thing was bouncing on a trampoline. When my brother Abe was 12, he wanted one bad, but my parents couldn't afford one, so Abe baked and sold apple pies around the neighborhood until he saved enough for one. There's this fantastic picture we have at home of all five of us bouncing on the trampoline at the same time. Our family has a really good foundation.

On her maple syrup moments

The family would go in the woods together and collect the sap out of the buckets that we hung on the trees. Then we would bring it back to the sugar shack in our yard and hang out with my dad while he boiled it down. Once it was done, we'd get a bowl of snow and pour the syrup on it. It's a supergood treat. We still do it every year.

On snowboarding rules

Rules? Snowboarding is free. You make up your own rules. Sure, you have to do a certain number of airs and rotations, and to qualify for the Olympics you have to get a top 25 spot in a World Cup, but once you hit the pipe you can pretty much do your own thing.

On misconceptions about snowboarders

People think we're partyers and that it's just a party sport. It's not. We train like everyone else and take things seriously.