Gold Winners 'Having Fun'

Speedskater And Snowboarder Speak About Bringing Home Olympic Gold

(CBS)  Americans woke to the news of two more gold medals, in speed skating and snowboarding, for U.S. athletes at the Olympics in Torino, Italy.

The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith caught up with Hannah Teter after her halfpipe dreams came true.

"Feels so good I got this," she raved, holding up her medal.

The youngest of five children, and the only girl, Teter, 19, grew up in Vermont. If there's one thing she misses in the mountains of Torino, it's her home state's famous maple syrup.

"They didn't bring pancakes for us and my mom called and said, 'You want us to bring some syrup when we come out?' I was like, 'They don't make any pancakes here,' " she told Smith. The deprivation didn't stop her, though. "Maybe it was all the syrup I consumed pre-Italy," she joked.

Teter's win was a mild upset. Her teammate, Gretchen Bleiler, was favored to win the gold but took home the silver instead. But if there was any disappointment on the medal stand, it didn't show.

"It was so good to have Bleiler up there," Teter said. "We were so tight at the beginning of the week, amping each other up, 'Let's do this!' and having each other's backs and it was such a fun time."

In Teter's case, having fun was what got her the medal in the first place.

"I was just kind of playing it mellow and having fun and feeling the sunshine and the crowd and it was just really a good time," she said.

Speedskater Joey Cheek won the 500 meter race and spoke with co-anchor Hannah Storm about the thrill of victory.

"I am so thrilled and grateful that I could get a race like that," he said. If you had asked me even that morning how it would go, I had no idea it would take off like it did.

"The stars have aligned for me the last couple of weeks. I've been fortunate and grateful."

Cheek has passed on some of his good fortune to people in need, donating $25,000 he earned from the U.S. Olympic Committee to children in the Sudan.

"I've come from the wealthiest, most powerful and best country in the world, in my opinion," he told Storm. "If it weren't but a twist of fate, any one of us could be in another, much less fortunate position."