Torah Bright
Torah Bright is a snowboard champion and winner of a gold medal for Australia in half-pipe in the 2010 Vancouver Canada Winter Olympics. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "“For me it’s just a way of life – I don’t drink, smoke, drink tea or coffee, or have sex before marriage. I’ve never drunk or smoked but I’ll go out to dance and stay up late and then drive home at the end of the night.” [1]
Torah was born on December 27, 1986, to Peter and Marion Bright, in Cooma, Australia, the fourth of five children who all enjoy winter sports. Her brother Ben is her coach and manager. At the time of the 2010 Olympics, she was living in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A., in an historic, renovated house. She trains in Salt Lake City, Utah, but half the year, she trains and competes in Australia and New Zealand. She is one of the most dynamic snowboarders in the world. "Torah has been featured on billboards, in newspapers, magazines and television campaigns all over the globe. She was even a character in the Microsoft X-Box Game Amped 2. Her 2006/2007 accomplishments include a string of wins rivaled only by Shaun White (Official Website). She turned pro at age 14 and finished fifth in snowboarding at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.
Torah's successes include becoming the 2007 TTR Womens World Tour champion, taking the gold at the 2007 Winter X Games, becoming the two time World Superpipe Champion, winning the Nippon Open, and being the overall winner of the 2007 Burton Global Open Series.
In 2010, Bright suffered two concussions while in training for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She carried the flag for Australia at the opening ceremonies. Qualifying in the number one spot for the final, she crashed out in her first run down and as a result had to run first in the second run. She posted a score of 45.0 which remained the high score through the second run and became the fourth Australian to win a Winter Olympics Gold medal.
Torah married Jake Welch in the Salt Lake Temple on June 5, 2010. [2]
