Torah Jane BrightOAM (born 27 December 1986) is an Australian former professional snowboarder. She is Australia's most successful Winter Olympian, former Olympic gold and silver medalist, two time X Games gold medalist, three time US Open winner, two time Global Open Champion, three time World Superpipe Champion, former TTR World Champion and recipient of the Best Female Action Sports Athlete at the ESPY awards. In 2014 Bright became the first Olympic athlete (male or female) to qualify for all three snowboarding disciplines; halfpipe, slopestyle and boarder-cross.
Bright was born in Cooma, New South Wales on 27 December 1986, to parents Peter and Marion Bright; she is the fourth of five siblings. Her parents named her "Torah" after her sister Rowena learned from her Jewish piano teacher that the name referred to the Jewish name for the first five books of the Tanakh and meant "bearer of a great spiritual message" and suggested the name for her new sister.[2][3][4]
Bright's brother, Ben, is also a professional snowboarder and was her coach. Her older sister, Rowena, competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in alpine skiing.
Bright finished 30th overall at the 2005 World Championships in Whistler, Canada and was runner-up for the World Cup title during the 2003–04 season.
Bright entered only three World Cup events during the 2004–05 season, both in February at the 2006 Winter Olympic venue of Bardonecchia. She placed third in both events, qualifying for the Australian Olympic team.
In 2006, Bright earned a silver medal at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado. She returned the following year, winning the gold medal in the women's superpipe event. She is the first Australian snowboarder to ever win gold at the Winter X Games (11), beating Winter Olympic medalists Gretchen Bleiler and Hannah Teter.
In 2007, Bright took first at the Nissan X-Trail Nippon Open in the women's halfpipe, giving her back-to-back wins in two consecutive competitions. At the 2007 World Super Pipe Championships in Park City, Utah, Bright won first place, beating 2002 Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark. In late 2007, she made the podium for both events in the RoxyChicken Jam, the final event in the TTR (Ticket to Ride) Snowboard Tour, where she became the 2007 TTR world champion.[6]
In 2010, at the Winter Olympics at Vancouver, Bright was chosen to carry the flag for Australia at the opening ceremonies,[7] and qualified for the no. 1 spot for the final of the women's halfpipe, despite suffering two concussions beforehand in training. Crashing out in her first run in the final, Bright was the first competitor to make a second run. With a successful second run, she posted a score of 45.0, which remained the highest score through the field's second run. Bright became the fourth Australian to win a Winter Olympics gold medal.
In 2014 at the Winter Olympics at Sochi, having entered an unprecedented triple of slopestyle, halfpipe, and boarder-cross, Bright finished 7th in the inaugural women's slopestyle final and went on to win silver with a score of 91.50 in the women's halfpipe. This was Australia's first medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. The medal also saw Bright surpass Alisa Camplin to become Australia's most successful female Winter Olympics athlete.[10]
In 2020 Bright appeared in the documentary film Out of Bounds, snowboarding some of the most extreme reaches of the planet: "I came out of the journey totally inspired by nature and people. There are so many people who do care and are doing their part to create awareness and change. There is a shift in consciousness and it's a beautiful thing to witness."[12]
Bright rarely entered competition after the 2014 Olympics, and suffered a wrist fracture after returning to competition 2 months before the 2018 Olympics. She officially announced her retirement from competition in January 2020.[13]
Endorsements
Bright has a lifelong sponsorship with Rhythm Snowsports, located in her home town Cooma. She also has a head-to-toe sponsorship with Roxy, the female-specific brand of action-sports company Quiksilver. For the 2008–09 season, she worked to expand her career into design, working on a new addition to the Roxy's women's line, dubbed the "Bright Series," which includes her snowboard, the Roxy Eminence.[14] Her other sponsors include Subway and Boost Mobile.
Competition results
2003
Runner Up for the World Cup Title – 2003–04 season
Bright was married to American pro snowboarder Jake Welch from 2010 to 2013.[26]
Bright married snowboarder Angus Thomson in September 2015.[27] The couple has two sons, born in July 2020 and May 2023.[13][28]
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