Toni Sailer
From Wikinfo
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Alpine skiing | ||
Competitor for  Austria
| ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Gold | 1956 Cortina | Downhill |
| Gold | 1956 Cortina | Slalom |
| Gold | 1956 Cortina | Giant Slalom |
| World Championships | ||
| Gold | 1956 Cortina | Downhill |
| Gold | 1956 Cortina | Giant Slalom |
| Gold | 1956 Cortina | Slalom |
| Gold | 1956 Cortina | Combined |
| Gold | 1958 Bad Gastein | Downhill |
| Gold | 1958 Bad Gastein | Giant Slalom |
| Gold | 1958 Bad Gastein | Combined |
- For criticism see Criticism of Toni_Sailer
Anton Engelbert "Toni" Sailer (17 November 1935 - 24 August 2009) was an Austrian alpine ski racer, who is considered to be among the best the sport has ever produced. Up to and including 1956 the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships and the Winter Olympics were held together as one. Therefore during that era the Olympic Champion was also the World Champion; though there were no medals awarded for the "Alpine skiing combined" at the time.
Contents |
Career
Sailer, nicknamed "Blitz from Kitz" (Blitz = German word for "bolt of lightning" or "flash"), was born in Kitzbühel. He was the first skier at the Winter Olympics to win all three alpine skiing events, taking gold in the downhill, slalom, and giant slalom at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. He was the fifth athlete to win three gold medals in the same Olympic games.
Two years later, Sailer won three gold medals and one silver at the four-event 1958 World Championships in Bad Gastein, Austria. He retired from competition in 1959; from 1957-71, he appeared in a handful of movies, most of them shallow comedies at least partly set in alpine regions, with Sailer showing off his talent. From 1972-76, he was chief trainer and technical director of the Austrian Skiing Association (ÖSV). Occasionally, as late as 2003 he was noted for appearing in a number of TV episodes or made for TV movies. [1]
For his contribution to the Olympic Movement, the International Olympic Committee awarded him the Olympic Order in 1985.
In January 2004 Sailer, although not associated with any political party, announced that he would run for Mayor of Kitzbühel. A few weeks later he withdrew his candidature, saying he had only now realized that being mayor was a full-time job. In 2006 he announced his retirement as chief of race of the Hahnenkamm Race, a position which he had occupied for 20 years.
Toni Sailer was named Austrian Sportspersonality of the year in 1956, 1957, and 1958.[2], and "Austrian Sportspersonality of the century" in 1999. On 16 September 1958, he featured on the cover of Bravo magazine.[3]
Personal life
Sailer married Gaby Rummeny in 1976 in Vancouver; she died of cancer in 2000. His second marriage, to Hedwig Fischer, lasted from 2006 until his death.[4] His son Florian (by Rummeny) also survives him.[5]
Death
It was announced in January 2008 that Sailer had laryngeal cancer, for which he had been undergoing chemotheraphy in the preceding months.[6] He died of cancer in Innsbruck, aged 73, in 2009.
References
External links
- AP Obituary in the Times of London
- Toni Sailer, skier, actor and singer (with images)
- Toni Sailer at the Internet Movie Database
- Toni Sailer at the Kitzbühel Ski Club
- Template:Aeiou
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
Preceded by Gerhard Hanappi
| Austrian Sportsman of the Year 1956 – 1958 | Succeeded by Karl Schranz
|
Template:Footer Olympic Champions Downhill Men Template:Footer Olympic Champions Slalom Men Template:Footer Olympic Champions Giant Slalom Men Template:Footer World Champions Slalom Men Template:Footer World Champions Giant Slalom Men Template:Footer World Champions Combined Men
Template:Alpine-skiing-bio-stub Template:Austria-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Toni Sailer. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of this Wikinfo article is available under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. |
