Gustav Thöni
'75 ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline titles | 5 (3 GS, 2 SL) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Gustav Thöni (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɡustav ˈtøːni; ˈteːni]; sometimes listed as Gustavo Thoeni;[2] born 28 February 1951) is an Italian retired alpine ski racer.
Career
Thöni was born in the German-speaking province of
Ranked among the greatest Italian skiers ever, Thöni won three Olympic medals and a total of four overall World Cup titles in five years in the early 1970s. The four titles are an achievement he shares with Pirmin Zurbriggen and Hermann Maier, exceeded by Marcel Hirscher's eight and Marc Girardelli's five.[citation needed]
Thöni was the dominant skier in the technical events (
The year that Thöni did not win (
Although he concentrated on the technical events, he did occasionally compete in the only speed event of the era, the downhill (the Super-G was not run on the World Cup circuit until December 1982). His best finish in a downhill was a second place on the Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel, Austria, in January 1975. After more than two minutes on the classic Streif course, he lost to the up-and-coming Austrian legend Franz Klammer by just one-hundredth of a second, a distance of about 25 cm (10 in) at 130 km/h (80 mph). This event inspired the 1981 movie Un centesimo di secondo by Duccio Tessari, which featured Thöni himself.[3]
Thöni also won a number of combined events (downhill & slalom) during his career, including the non-medal titles in the combined at the Olympics in 1972 and 1976 (but counted as world championship titles).
Thöni's final victory in a slalom came in March 1975 at
He finished eighth in the slalom at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. As the torch had been passed on to the two top finishers, Stenmark and American Phil Mahre, Thöni retired from World Cup competition a month later in March 1980 at the age of 29. Later, he was a personal coach to Alberto Tomba (1989–1996). In parallel, he was technical director of the men's national team, and then, until 1999, general manager of both male and female national teams.[9]
Thöni was the Italian flag bearer at the opening ceremonies of the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and at the closing of the 2006 Winter Games in Torino. In 1973 and 1974 he was named "Skieur d’Or" by international ski journalists. He is mentioned in the song "Nuntereggae più" by Rino Gaetano. His cousin Roland Thöni was also a World Cup alpine ski racer in the 1970s. Roland took bronze in the slalom at the 1972 Olympics, while Gustav took the silver.[3]
World Cup results
Season titles
- 8 titles (4 overall, 2 giant slalom, 2 slalom)
Season | Discipline |
---|---|
1970 |
Giant slalom |
1971 |
Overall |
1972 |
Overall |
Giant slalom | |
1973 |
Overall |
Slalom | |
1974 |
Slalom |
1975 |
Overall |
Season standings
Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super G | Downhill | Combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1970 |
19 | 3 | 4 | 1 | not run |
— | awarded only in 1976 & 1980 |
1971 |
20 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 13 | ||
1972 |
21 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 17 | ||
1973 |
22 | 1 | 1 | 4 | — | ||
1974 |
23 | 2 | 1 | 3 | — | ||
1975 |
24 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | ||
1976 |
25 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — | 2 | |
1977 |
26 | 6 | 5 | 10 | — | ||
1978 |
27 | 26 | 22 | 10 | 23 | ||
1979 |
28 | 9 | 9 | 20 | — | ||
1980 |
29 | 51 | 18 | — | — | — |
Race victories
- 24 wins (11 GS, 8 SL, 4K, 1 PR)
- 69 podiums (2 DH, 26 GS, 32 SL, 8 K, 1 PR)
- 25 second places
- 20 third places
- 69 podiums (2 DH, 26 GS, 32 SL, 8 K, 1 PR)
- World Cup races (over 300 starts)
Season | Date | Location | Discipline |
---|---|---|---|
1970 |
11 Dec 1969 | Val d'Isère, France |
Giant slalom |
4 Jan 1970 | Bad Hindelang, West Germany | Slalom | |
29 Jan 1970 | Madonna di Campiglio, Italy | Giant slalom | |
30 Jan 1970 | Giant slalom | ||
1971 |
10 Jan 1971 | Madonna di Campiglio, Italy | Slalom |
21 Feb 1971 | Sugarloaf, ME, USA | Giant slalom | |
25 Feb 1971 | Heavenly Valley, CA, USA | Slalom | |
27 Feb 1971 | Giant slalom | ||
1972 |
2 Mar 1972 | Heavenly Valley, CA, USA | Giant slalom |
1973 |
15 Jan 1973 | Adelboden, Switzerland | Giant slalom |
4 Feb 1973 | St. Anton, Austria |
Slalom | |
4 Mar 1973 | Mont Ste. Anne, QC, Canada | Slalom | |
1974 |
20 Jan 1974 | Adelboden, Switzerland | Giant slalom |
2 Mar 1974 | Voss, Norway | Giant slalom | |
10 Mar 1974 | Vysoke Tatry, Czechoslovakia |
Slalom | |
1975 |
12 Jan 1975 | Wengen, Switzerland | Combined |
19 Jan 1975 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Combined | |
30 Jan 1975 | Chamonix, France | Slalom | |
1 Feb 1975 | Megève, France | Combined | |
15 Mar 1975 | Sun Valley, ID, USA | Slalom | |
23 Mar 1975 | Val Gardena, Italy | Parallel | |
1976 |
5 Dec 1975 | Val d'Isère, France | Giant slalom |
12 Jan 1976 | Adelboden, Switzerland | Giant slalom | |
1977 |
16 Jan 1977 | Wengen, Switzerland | Combined |
World championship results
Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1970 | 18 | 4 | DNF | not run |
— | — |
1972 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 1 | |
1974 | 22 | 1 | 1 | — | — | |
1976 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 26 | 1 | |
1978 | 26 | DNF1 | 24 | 12 | — | |
1980 | 28 | 8 | — | — | — |
From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).
Olympic results
Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1972 | 20 | 2 | 1 | not run |
13 | not run |
1976 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 26 | ||
1980 | 28 | 8 | — | — |
See also
- Italian men gold medalist at the Olympics and World Championships
- Italy national alpine ski at the World championships
- Italian skiers most successful race winner
Video
- Video – montage – Gustav Thöni on YouTube
- Video – 1972 Winter Olympics – Gustav Thöni on YouTube
- Video – Val Gardena, Italy – parallel slalom – Gustav Thöni & Ingemar Stenmark – 1975-03-23 on YouTube
References
- ^ "Sport invernali statistiche Olimpiadi" (in Italian). fiammegialle.org. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ "(cover)". Skiing. February 1976.
- ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Gustav Thöni". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
- ^ Waha, Eric (11 March 1974). "Thoeni wins ski battles, loses title". Schenectady Gazette. New York. Associated Press. p. 33.
- ^ "Thoeni seen 'True champ' after world GS triumph". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. 6 February 1974. p. 38.
- ^ "Thoeni adds second skiing gold". Montreal Gazette. UPI. 11 February 1974. p. 17.
- ^ Johnson, William (18 February 1974). "Along came the little people". Sports Illustrated: 24.
- ^ "COMPETITORS HAVING MORE THAN ONE PODIUM". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
- ^ "COMPETITORS HAVING MORE THAN ONE TOP 10 POSITION". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
External links
- Gustav Thöni at FIS (alpine)
- Gustav Thöni at Olympics.com
- Gustav Thöni at Olympedia
- Gustav Thöni at the Italian National Olympic Committee (in Italian)
- Gustav Thöni at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
- Gustav Thöni at Bella-Vista.it