Deborah Compagnoni

Deborah Compagnoni

Deborah Compagnoni in 2010
Personal information
Nationality Italian
Born (1970-06-04) 4 June 1970
Bormio, Italy
Height 165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight 65 kg (143 lb)
Sport
Country  Italy
Sport Alpine skiing
Medal record
Women's Alpine Skiing
Olympic Games
1992 Albertville Super-G
1994 Lillehammer Giant Slalom
1998 Nagano Giant Slalom
1998 Nagano Slalom
World Championships
1996 Sierra Nevada Giant Slalom
1997 Sestrières Giant Slalom
1997 Sestrières Slalom

Deborah Compagnoni (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdɛːbora kompaɲˈɲoːni]; born 4 June 1970) is an Italian former Alpine skier who won three gold medals at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.

Biography

Deborah Compagnoni was born in Bormio, northern Lombardy, skied with the G.S. Forestale.

Compagnoni soon was noticed for her great talent. Her career was always marked by great successes, but also by great accidents. After her first great victory, the World Junior Title in Giant slalom, and her first podium in World Cup, she broke her right knee in the Val d'Isére downhill. After the surgery operation she decided to abandon the downhill races, where her talent could have permitted even greater successes than those she obtained in her yet victorious career.

Compagnoni won her first race in the World Cup in 1992. She also won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics of the same year, again in the Super-G: however, while racing the Giant Slalom, one day later, she destroyed her left knee.

In the following years she left the fast races (downhill and super-G), confirming herself as one of the best Giant Slalom specialists. Her fragile knees hindered Compagnoni's practice activity and limited the number of victories in the World Cup: however, she always presented in her best shapes for the great championships. In 1994, at the Lillehammer Olympics, she won gold medal in the Giant Slalom, a feat she repeated four years later in Nagano. In 1998 she won also a silver medal in the Slalom, finishing second by only 0.06 seconds.

Compagnoni won the World Champion in Giant Slalom in 1996: in the following year edition she confirmed the title, coupling it with the Slalom one, a deed never accomplished by any Italian female skier. She won a total of 16 races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup (13 Giant Slalom, 2 Super-G and 1 Slalom), plus a Giant Slalom World Cup in 1997.

Deborah Compagnoni is considered the best female skier ever of Italy, equal to famous male winners like Gustav Thöni and Alberto Tomba. The World Cup skiing track in her native Santa Caterina Valfurva has been named after her.

She is married to Alessandro Benetton; they have three children: Agnese, Tobias, and Luce; they live in Ponzano Veneto, Italy.[1][2]

World Cup victories

Overall

Season Discipline
1997Giant Slalom

Individual races

These are her world cup victories.[3]

Date Location Race
26 January 1992 Morzine Super-G
7 March 1993 Morzine Super-G
5 December 1993 Tignes Giant Slalom
11 December 1993 Veysonnaz Giant Slalom
5 January 1994 Morzine Giant Slalom
8 January 1995 Haus im Ennstal Giant Slalom
2 March 1996 Narvik Giant Slalom
29 December 1996 Semmering Slalom
17 January 1997 Zwiesel Giant Slalom
18 January 1997 Zwiesel Giant Slalom
26 January 1997 Cortina d'Ampezzo Giant Slalom
15 March 1997 Vail Giant Slalom
25 October 1997 Tignes Giant Slalom
21 November 1997 Park City Giant Slalom
19 December 1997 Val-d'Isère Giant Slalom
6 January 1998 Bormio Giant Slalom

See also

References

  1. ↑ "A life in the day: Alessandro Benetton, retail magnate", The Sunday Times, John Follain, 13 April 2008
  2. ↑ "Alessandro Benetton: Future Perfect", Elle, Alexandra Marshall, 6 January 2010
  3. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica almanac 2008
Winter Olympics
Preceded by
Alberto Tomba		 Italy Flag bearer for Italy
1994 Lillehammer 		Succeeded by
Gerda Weissensteiner
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