Torah Bright

There was never much doubt about where Torah Bright was heading in sport. She was on skis at the age of two, snowboarding at 11, and had turned professional by the time she was 14. From there her trajectory to the podium at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, clutching a shiny gold medal, seemed almost ordained.

Bright made her first major impact aged 16, as runner-up for the World Cup title in 2003. Her innovative Halfpipe runs and ability to master any terrain quickly established her as a dynamic competitor on the snowboarding circuit. In 2004 she won the Halfpipe at the FIS World Cup in Torino, followed by victories in Norway and Japan in 2005. In 2006, when she finished fifth at the Torino Winter Olympics, she had three wins on the circuit, including the US Open.

In 2010 Bright carried the Australian flag in the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics, and qualified first for the women’s Snowboard Halfpipe final. She crashed on the first of her two runs, but leapt into first place on the second with a series of gravity-defying tricks, culminating in a switch backside 720 - a double spinning manoeuvre performed by no other woman. Her parents, who had strapped her on their backs as an infant during snow-country expeditions, were watching. So too was her elder sister Rowena who competed in Alpine Skiing at the Olympics in 2002.

After taking some time out from the sport, Bright returned with a vengeance and launched a history-making assault on the Sochi 2014 Games. Bright became the first competitor to compete in three Snowboard events at the same Games, taking on the Slopestyle and Snowboard Cross in addition to the Halfpipe. At the age of 27, Bright went one better than just making her mark in the history books. After finishing seventh in the Snowboard Slopestyle on Day 2 of the Games, she produced a blistering performance in the Halfpipe on Day 5 to earn the silver medal. In a nail-biting final, Bright finished on 91.50 - just 0.25 points behind 24-year-old Kaitlyn Farrington (USA) who won gold on her Olympic debut with a score of 92.00. Bright would go on to finish equal 18th in the Snowboard Cross, proving she was truly the most versatile and talented snowboarder at the Games.