Günther Mader (born 24 June 1964) is a former alpine ski racer and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

medalist from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Born in

Matrei am Brenner Matrei am Brenner is a small municipality in the southern part of the District Innsbruck-Land and is located approximately 17 km south of Innsbruck. Matrei has always been an important station for commerce. On 1 January 2022 the municipalitie ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, he is one of only five men to have won

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

races in all five alpine disciplines (

downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

, super G,

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

, and combined).

Career

Mader made his World Cup debut at age 18 and competed for 16 seasons, including four

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 ...

and seven

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. He was the bronze medalist in the downhill at the 1992 Olympics and won a total of six medals in the world championships. He won his first championship medal, the silver medal in the Slalom Race at

Crans Montana Crans-Montana is a municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. On 1 January 2017 the former municipalities of Chermignon, Mollens, Montana and Randogne merged to form the new municipality of Crans-Montana. C ...

in 1987, after only placing eighth after the first leg of the competition. Mader won two World Cup season titles, giant slalom in

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 Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and combined in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, and placed second in the overall World Cup standings in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and 1996, and third in 1990. Without his 14 wins, he did achieve another 27 places in World Cup races. His only World Cup victory in

was the prestigious Hahnenkamm in Kitzbühel, Austria, in

at age 31. Mader retired from competition after the

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 ...

season with 14 World Cup victories, 44 podiums, and 146 top ten finishes.Ski-db.com
- results - Günther Mader - accessed 2011-01-16 Only 13 days after his retirement in March 1998, he suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

: as a result the right side of his body was paralysed and he lost 85 percent of his vocabulary. However he recovered to the greatest possible extent. After convalescence, he wrote a book titled ''ÜberLeben'' which covered his career, the stroke and his work as director of racing at ski manufacturer Salomon in Austria, a position he took up during his recovery from his stroke. ''ÜberLeben'' has a double meaning in German, translatable as "about life" but also as "survival".

World Cup victories

Season titles

Individual races

* 14 victories - (1 DH, 6 SG, 2 GS, 1 SL, 4 K) * 44 podiums - (6 DH, 12 SG, 8 GS, 5 SL, 13 K)

References

External links

* * * ' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mader, Gunther Austrian male alpine skiers Olympic bronze medalists for Austria Olympic alpine skiers of Austria Alpine skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics 1964 births Living people Olympic medalists in alpine skiing FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics Recipients of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria