Rider Profile - Freestyle snowboarding

Torah Bright rider profile

Name: Torah Jane Bright

Hometown: Cooma, NSW, Australia

Birthdate: 27 December 1986

Sponsors: Roxy

Favourite tune?
My music collection is pretty eclectic but Regina Specktor is one of my favourites right now

Favourite resort?
Park City Utah. It has everything including a 22ft halfpipe and some awesome freeriding.

What's your favourite trick?
Apart from a powder turn, I really like the frontside 360. When you hit them nicely they feel really lovely. In the pipe it'd have to be a straight air.

We caught up with Torah Bright at the X Games in Tignes just three weeks after winning her Olympic gold.

Torah Bright rider profile - interview You went first at the Olympics so you had to wait for all the other girls to do their runs before you know for sure that you'd won the gold. What was that like?
I knew that if I landed that run I had a pretty good chance of being on that centre position on the podium. [Her winning run was a backside 360, to a switch McTwist 720, then a backside 540, followed by a huge air to fakie, and she finished it off with a corked cab 720.] It was just a matter of waiting. I couldn't change what had happened, I had done the best I could've on that day. It wasn't the best riding I've ever done but it was enough for that day, it was the best trick combination that night. It was a good day and I was happy to have everything work out for that one day that the world cares about. I was watching all the girls but I was a little distracted because I realised that my parents were in the crowd. They weren't meant to be coming and had decided to surprise me. It was amazing to share that moment with them.

How does winning a silver medal at the first X Games in Europe compare to taking the gold medal at the 2010 Olympics?
The Olympics is the biggest event on the world stage, it's the event I wanted to peak at, and I did. I'm very exhausted from it all. So really, I just wanted to support the X Games. I didn't put all my cards on the table because I didn't feel it was safe because of my state of being right now. I'm just exhausted, so I was just having fun out there. The park was great so I just had fun doing big airs.

Has it been crazy since the Olympics?
Yes. I only just caught up on my sleep on the plane trip over here. In fact, I've been catching up on sleep ever since I got here – including sleeping through training sessions. Whoops.

What's happening with the double cork?
I've been kinda of thinking about doing it for a little while. Last winter I had a few powder days where I started doing double backflips and that got me thinking I could do a double crippler [double cork] in the halfpipe. It wasn't until New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere winter when I started being able to do it. It's such a hard trick, it's just so scary – the double backflip is way easier. The stakes are higher, so much depends on being able to land it in the pipe. I have ridden away but I haven't perfected the double cork enough to have it in a contest. I just need to rest a little bit but I'm definitely keen to bring that.

Where do you practice the double first?
In the snow. Everyday on the hill you're always thinking of new and better things to do. At the Olympics in practice I started over rotating my switch back 720 so I'm like sweet, now I've got a switch back 900, which is great. It's about time on snow. As you get more familiar with the tricks you're doing it becomes natural to take them up a level and do more on your board.

What's your scariest moment?
I'd have to say, doing the double. It was terrifying and my heart was pounding the first time I tried it. I surprised to actually match transition [land it in the pipe]. But it's hard to do in different pipes as it's hard to calculate for each type of transition. I actually ended up with my face on the coping [the lip of the pipe] once which was pretty scary. That's been my scariest moment for sure.

After a fall like that, how did you overcome ‘the fear' to give it another try?
The fear is always there. I think it's a good thing to have fear because it saves you from being unnecessarily hurt. You do need to step outside your comfort zone to a certain point but not to point that it's uncalculated. It's got to be a calculated risk and injury is definitely a fear – I don't want to hurt myself. I don't want find myself unable to carry my child because my shoulder is broke.

So how do you know when it's the right time to push yourself?
Four years ago there's no way I could've imagined doing the tricks I'm doing now. It's because of my brother coaching me. He's showed me that I do have the ability to do it. He pushed me at times when he felt like I could do it. You can't push yourself every day to do new things. You've really got to be in the right frame of mind and the conditions have to work too. All that obviously doesn't link up every day but he really helped me realise that I am better than I think I am.

Can we expect to see you doing some freeriding now the Olympics are over?
My focus has been on the Olympics for a little while now, I didn't compete in any slopestyle competitions last year. I've been focusing on the pipe because it takes a lot of time be good at it. Now I've got an Olympic gold I'm just getting back into snowboarding and enjoying riding powder. There's definitely a few tricks off piste that I would love to get on film and I'd love to do some lines if there is enough time.

Is snowboarding just a job to you now?
It's a sport that I love to do, it's a job and it's fun. I also have my own clothing line which I work with the Roxy designers on so there's more to it than just competing. I haven't gone to college but I'm graduating with a masters in snowboarding and I learning a lot of things along the way

If you could have one ride with anybody who would it be?
One ride, that's hard. It would probably be a powder day with Nicholas Müller. Or a powder day with friends just for the love of it.

What's your dream?
It's to be a wife and a mother. [Torah is marrying fellow Mormon pro snowboarder Jake Welch in June] Luckily I'm going to have a lot of help with the wedding plans, I'm just like “I'll turn up on the day, I promise”.

Let's have your favourite noise
Well my least favourite noises are eating noises - whether your mouth is open or closed. It's just not good. My favourite would have to be the ocean.