Paul Hildgartner (born 8 June 1952 in Chienes) is an Italian

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

r who competed from the early 1970s to the late 1980s. Competing in five Winter Olympics, he earned two gold medals (Men's doubles:

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, Men's singles:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

) and one silver medal (Men's singles:

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

) for his efforts. At the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

, Hildgartner carried the

Italian flag The national flag of Italy ( it, Bandiera d'Italia, ), often referred to in Italian as ''il Tricolore'' ( en, the Tricolour, ) is a tricolour (flag), tricolour featuring three equally sized vertical Pale (heraldry), pales of green, white and red, ...

during the opening ceremonies.

Biography

Hildgartner also won five medals at the FIL World Luge Championships with two golds (Men's singles:

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, Men's doubles:

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

) and three bronzes (Men's singles:

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

; Men's doubles:

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

). Additionally, he won six medals at the FIL European Luge Championships with four golds (Men's singles:

; Men's doubles:

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

), one silver (Men's singles:

), and one bronze (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 Australian ...

). He also won the

Luge World Cup The Luge World Cup season is a yearly competition first organized by the International Luge Federation The International Luge Federation ( French: Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (FIL); German: Internationaler Rennrodelverband) is ...

overall title in men's singles in 1978-9, 1980-81 (tied with fellow Italian Ernst Haspinger), and 1982-3. Hildgartner is the only person to win a gold medal in men's singles luge and doubles luge at the Winter Olympics, FIL World Luge Championships, and FIL European Luge Championships. He was among the first inductees into the International Luge Federation (FIL) Hall of Fame in 2004, along with Klaus Bonsack and

Margit Schumann Margit Schumann (14 September 1952 – 11 April 2017) was an East Germany, East German luger who competed during the 1970s and early 1980s. Competing in three Winter Olympics, she won two medals in the women's singles event with a gold in 1976 Wi ...

. Following 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 t ...

in Turin, the 17th turn at Cesana Pariol where the bobsleigh, luge, and

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

events took place was renamed in his honour.

References

1988 luge men's singles results
* * ttp://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/biohi.htm Great Olympians* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hildgartner, Paul 1952 births Living people Italian male lugers Lugers at the 1972 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1976 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1980 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Italy Olympic silver medalists for Italy Olympic lugers of Italy Olympic medalists in luge Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics Lugers of Centro Sportivo Carabinieri People from Kiens Sportspeople from Südtirol