The story of the top two finishers could easily be labeled, “Beauty and the Geek.”

The 24-year-old Bleiler is no stranger to sexy photo shoots and could probably find a career in modeling when the snowboarding is over.

But cocky, she is not.

Her motivation for these Olympics came from the heartbreak of 2002, when she tied for the final spot on the Olympic team but lost out on the third tiebreaker. It made her journey to this point, and the success she finally enjoyed, a nerve-racking ride with a sweet conclusion.

“I get so nervous, and especially for this event,” Bleiler said. “I told my coach, ‘I don’t want to care this much. I don’t want to care this much.’ But that’s what happens when you work for a goal your entire life.”

Teter, meanwhile, is an unabashed goofball, all giggles, full of mumbled, stream-of-conciousness answers.

The 19-year-old lists one of her favorite hobbies as making syrup out of sap from trees near her home in Vermont. She was born and raised among a family that loved shredding. Her two brothers also are on the U.S. snowboard team and the oldest manages what they call Team Teter. Teter says her competitive spirit came from hangin’ with the boys — jumping on the trampoline, seeing who can hold their breath the longest underwater.

She plans to staple her new gold medal to the wall of the playhouse where she and her brothers hang out.

“I’m gonna staple it in with a real staplegun,” she said.

And how will being an Olympic champion change her life?

“Maybe I’ll get to buy a boat,” she said. “I’m still going to be laid back. I’m still going to be grateful.”

Slide show   Emotional Moments Feb. 26: See photos of athletes' highs and lows from Sunday.

Though the athletes have taken different paths to this point, they were similar in that they both chose to skip the X Games last month to better prepare for the Olympics. No snowboarder would have thought to do that 10 years ago.

“The Olympics is the biggest event, period,” Bleiler said. “The X Games are the biggest event in snowboarding.”

And the United States is best in both — a conclusion nobody can deny and one the Americans don’t shirk from, even though it’s a sport that proclaims to be more about camaraderie than competition.

It’s easier, of course, to say that when you’re winning everything.

“We definitely get in other teams’ heads,” U.S. snowboarding coach Bud Keene said. “When we come into a halfpipe competition, we’re rolling in like a freight train.

“You see the way they ride — it’s head and shoulders above the rest of the competitors.”