Gerda Weissensteiner
OMRI
Omri ( ; he, , ''‘Omrī''; akk, 𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿 ''Ḫûmrî'' 'ḫu-um-ri-i'' fl. 9th century BC) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the sixth king of Israel. He was a successful military campaigner who extended the northern kingdom of ...
(born 3 January 1969) is an Italian
luger and
bobsleigh
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...
pilot who competed from the late 1980s to 2006. Competing in six
Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...
, she won the gold medal in the women's singles luge event at the
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...
in
Lillehammer, and together with
Jennifer Isacco
Jennifer Isacco (born 27 February 1977) is an Italian bobsledder who has competed since 1999. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, she won a bronze medal in the two-woman event with teammate Gerda Weissensteiner
Gerda Weissensteiner OMRI (bo ...
she won the bronze in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
in the two-woman bobsleigh at the
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...
. She was the first Italian sportsperson to win Olympic medals in two disciplines.
Luge career
Weissensteiner was introduced to luge by her uncle at the age of seven, initially sledding on
natural luge tracks.
She won a World Junior Luge Championship title in 1988.
Weissensteiner won eleven medals at the
FIL World Luge Championships
The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non-Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natural ...
, including two gold (Women's singles:
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
, Mixed team:
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...
), three silvers (Women's singles: 1989, Mixed team:
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
,
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
), and six bronzes (Women's singles: 1995,
1996; Mixed team:
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
, 1993, 1996,
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
).
She was also won seven medals at the
FIL European Luge Championships The FIL European Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place since 1914. From 1914 to 1934, these championships were part of the Internationaler Schlittensportsverband (ISSV - International Sled Sport Federat ...
with two golds (Mixed team and Women's singles: both in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
), two silvers (Women's singles:
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
; Mixed team:
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
), and three bronzes (Mixed team:
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
,
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
,
1996).
Weissensteiner won the overall
Luge World Cup title in women's singles twice (1992-3, 1997-8). She took a total of 13 wins, eight second places and eight third places in World Cup races. She was also the flagbearer at the opening ceremonies of the
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...
in
Nagano Nagano may refer to:
Places
* Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan
** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture
*** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics
*** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano
*** Nagano Universi ...
. Her Olympic triumph was dampened by the death of her brother in a car accident a few days later: during his funeral, a burglar broke into Weissensteiner's home and stole her gold medal. Following the Games she retired from luge, becoming a youth luge coach.
Bobsleigh career
Weissensteiner returned to sledding as a bobsleigh pilot in 2001. She finished seventh in the 2-woman bobsleigh (with the former
biker
Biker or bikie may refer to:
* A cyclist, a bicycle rider or participant in cycling sports
* A motorcyclist, any motorcycle rider or passenger, or participant in motorcycle sports
** A motorcycle club member, defined more narrowly than all motor ...
Antonella Bellutti, a gold medalist in
track cycling
Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles.
History
Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...
) at the 2002 Winter Olympics. After the 2002 Games she teamed up with sprinter Jennifer Isacco, who she competed with until her retirement from the sport.
Their best finish in the
Bobsleigh World Cup
The Bobsleigh World Cup is an annual bobsleigh competitions. It has taken place since the 1984 Winter Olympics
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games ( Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske ...
was third twice in the two-woman event. (2002-3, 2003-4 (tied with
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
's
Susi Erdmann
Susi-Lisa Erdmann (later Plankensteiner, born 29 January 1968) is an East German-German luger and bobsledder who competed from 1977 to 1998 in luge, then since 1999 in bobsleigh. She was born in Blankenburg, Bezirk Magdeburg. Competing in five W ...
)). She finished sixth in the 2-woman bobsleigh event at the
2005 FIBT World Championships in
Calgary, Alberta
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. The following year, Weissensteiner and Isacco finished second in the
European Championships,
and Weissensteiner joined Erdmann as being one of only two sledders to win a medal in both
bobsleigh
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...
and
luge at the Winter Olympics
Luge is a winter sport featured at the Winter Olympic Games where a competitor or two-person team rides a flat sled while lying supine (face up) and feet first. The sport is usually contested on a specially designed ice track that allows gravit ...
.
She retired from all competition after the 2006 Winter Olympics in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
. That year she was appointed as a Knight of the
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi.
The highest-ranking ...
. In addition she has a
rhododendron named after her: this was part of a collaboration between the
Accademia dei Georgofili and the
Italian National Olympic Committee
The Italian National Olympic Committee ( it, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. ...
to name an
azalea after each medal winner at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the
2006 Winter Paralympics
The 2006 Winter Paralympic Games ( it, Giochi paralimpici invernali del 2006), the ninth Paralympic Winter Games, took place in Turin, Italy from 10 to 19 March 2006. These were the first Winter Paralympic Games to be held in Italy. They were ...
.
Subsequently, she returned to youth coaching in luge as well as working as a
press officer
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage.
Duti ...
for the Italian Luge Federation.
See also
*
List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games
A small fraction of the world's population ever competes at the Olympic Games; an even smaller fraction ever competes in multiple Games. 849 athletes (260 women and 589 men) have participated in at least five Olympics from Athens 1896 to Beiji ...
*
List of athletes with Olympic medals in different disciplines
*
Italian sportswomen multiple medalists at Olympics and World Championships
References
1988 luge women's singles results*
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External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weissensteiner, Gerda
1969 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Bolzano
Italian female bobsledders
Italian female lugers
Bobsledders at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Bobsledders at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Lugers at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Lugers at the 1992 Winter Olympics
Lugers at the 1994 Winter Olympics
Lugers at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Olympic bobsledders of Italy
Olympic bronze medalists for Italy
Olympic gold medalists for Italy
Olympic lugers of Italy
Olympic medalists in bobsleigh
Olympic medalists in luge
Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics
Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Italian sports coaches
Germanophone Italian people