María José Rienda Contreras (born 12 June 1975) is a former

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 ...

alpine ski racer. She served as the President of the

Consejo Superior de Deportes The National Sports Council, also called Supreme Sports Council or High Council for Sports ( es, Consejo Superior de Deportes, CSD) is a Spanish government autonomous agency responsible for the promotion, planning and development of physical cult ...

and Secretary of State for Sports of Spain from June 2018 to January 2020.

Biography

Rienda Contreras has 6

victories, all in giant slalom. Her victories in 2005 were the first Spanish World Cup victories since

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. María José Rienda Contreras represented

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in five

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 ...

. Her interest for this sport began when her father began to work on the Station of

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already at the age of nine she was possessing her first pair of skis. After some national success, she joined the Spanish national team at age 14. On 25 October 2003 Rienda Contreras scored her first World Cup podium, by coming third in the giant slalom in

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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 ...

. She scored two more podiums that season and finished third in the giant slalom World Cup that season. The following season, 2004–2005, began with a new podium, repeating the third position of the previous year in Sölden. Later she scored another third position, now in St. Moritz,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. On 20 February 2005 Maria Jose Rienda Contreras scored her first World Cup win, in the giant slalom in

Åre Åre () is a locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpen. 25% of the local eco ...

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. Later she scored another victory, this time in the giant slalom in

Lenzerheide Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. The vil ...

, Switzerland. Also this season she finished third in the giant slalom World Cup standings. After retiring from competition, she became involved in sport management. In June 2018 she was appointed Secretary of State for Sports by the

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World Cup victories

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rienda Contreras, Maria Jose Spanish female alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers of Spain 1975 births Living people