Deborah Compagnoni

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.

Deborah Compagnoni

Alpine skier
Deborah Compagnoni in 2010
Born	(1970-06-04) 4 June 1970 Bormio, Italy
Height	165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
World Cup debut	1986
Retired	1999
Olympics
Medals	4 (3 gold)
World Championships
Medals	3 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	14
Wins	16
Podiums	44
Overall titles	0 (4th 1998 & 1999)
Discipline titles	1 (Gs 1997)
Medal record International alpine ski competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 3 1 0 World Championships 3 0 0 Total 6 1 0 World Cup race podiums Event 1st 2nd 3rd Super-G 2 0 1 Giant 13 10 8 Slalom 1 5 4 Total 16 15 13 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

Biography

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

Compagnoni soon attracted attention for her great talent. Her career was always marked by major successes, but also by serious accidents. After her first major 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 surgery, she decided to stop competing in downhill races, where her talent could have permitted even greater successes than those she obtained in her still outstanding 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 speed disciplines (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 arrived in her best shape for the major championships. In 1994, at the Lillehammer Olympics, she won the 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 Championship in Giant Slalom in 1996; in the following year's edition, she repeated the victory, alongside winning with the Slalom title, a feat never accomplished by any other 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 Italian female skier of all time, the equal of famous male champions 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, and they have three children: Agnese, Tobias, and Luce; they live in Ponzano Veneto, Italy.[1][2]

World Cup results

Season titles

Season	Discipline
1997	Giant Slalom

Season standings

Season	Overall		Downhill		Super-G		Giant Slalom		Slalom		Combined
	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points
1987/88	40.	24	22.	12	17.	12	–	–	–	–	–	–
1988/89	did not participate due to an injury
1989/90	52.	19	–	–	22.	9	24.	10	–	–	–	–
1990/91	57.	12	–	–	–	–	17.	12	–	–	–	–
1991/92	11.	590	–	–	15.	126	4.	344	19.	120	–	–
1992/93	11.	535	–	–	6.	230	8.	200	17.	105	–	–
1993/94	6.	841	–	–	18.	91	3.	515	12.	195	12.	40
1994/95	12.	524	–	–	25.	74	5.	325	14.	125	–	–
1995/96	22.	346	–	–	–	–	6.	280	30.	66	–	–
1996/97	4.	967	–	–	–	–	1.	560	3.	407	–	–
1997/98	4.	912	–	–	–	–	2.	565	6.	304	–	–
1998/99	22.	347	–	–	–	–	9.	256	23.	91	–	–

Races victories

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

• List of multiple Winter Olympic medalists
• Italian sportswomen multiple medalists at Olympics and World Championships
• Italian skiers who closed in top 10 in overall World Cup

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 Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
3. Encyclopædia Britannica almanac 2008

External links

• Media related to Deborah Compagnoni at Wikimedia Commons
• Deborah Compagnoni at the International Ski Federation
• Deborah Compagnoni at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
• Deborah Compagnoni at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)

Awards
Preceded by Fiona May	Italian Sportswoman of the Year 1996-1997-1998	Succeeded by Stefania Belmondo
Winter Olympics
Preceded by Alberto Tomba	Flag bearer for Italy 1994 Lillehammer	Succeeded by Gerda Weissensteiner