Tamara McKinney (born October 16, 1962) 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 from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She won four World Cup season titles, most notably the

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 ...

overall, the first American woman title holder for a quarter century. McKinney's other three season titles were in giant slalom (

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, 1983) and slalom (

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 ...

). She was a

world champion 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, ...

in the combined event in 1989, her final year of competition. Her half-brother Steve McKinney was a world-record holding speed skier, setting seven world records and breaking his own record twice.

Life and career

Born in Lexington,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, the diminutive McKinney (, ) grew up in Squaw Valley,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, the youngest of seven children. She made her World Cup debut in December

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 ...

at age 16 with a podium finish in a slalom in Italy. Her first World Cup victory came at age 18 in January

, the first of four wins in giant slalom that breakthrough season. McKinney raced on the World Cup circuit for eleven seasons, and competed in three

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and five

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, ...

. She won four medals in the world championships; bronze medals in the combined (

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

) and

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 ...

( 1989), and a gold medal in the combined at

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the numer ...

in 1989. While winning the overall World Cup in

at age 20, she also won the

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 ...

title, which she had first won in 1981. In

McKinney won the slalom title, and took fourth place in the

at the

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 ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, behind teammates

Debbie Armstrong Debra Rae "Debbie" Armstrong (born December 6, 1963) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Seattle, Washington. She was the first gold medalist from the U.S. in women's alpine skiing in 12 years, winning the giant slalom at the 1984 Wint ...

and

Christin Cooper Christin Elizabeth Cooper (born October 10, 1959) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic medalist from the United States. Early years Born in Los Angeles, California, she was raised in Ketchum, Idaho, and learned to ski and race at ...

. McKinney participated in Prince Edward Windsor of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland's charity television special ''

The Grand Knockout Tournament ''The Grand Knockout Tournament'' (also known as ''It's a Royal Knockout'') was a one-off charity event which took place on 15 June 1987, and was shown on British television on 19 June 1987 (BBC1, repeated on 27 December 1987), in addition to a ...

'' in 1987. While training for the upcoming

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 ...

season, McKinney broke her left leg (for the third time) in

Saas Fee Saas-Fee () is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The village is situated on a high mountain plateau at 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), surrounded ...

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 ...

, in mid-October 1989. Slow to recover, she announced her retirement in November 1990 at age 28 and completed her career with 18 World Cup victories, 45 podiums, and 99 top ten finishes.Ski-db.com
- Tamara McKinney - accessed 2010-11-28 Eight of her victories were in the U.S., with six at Waterville Valley,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, which included double victories in 1983 and 1984. Along with

Gretchen Fraser Gretchen Kunigk Fraser (February 11, 1919 – February 17, 1994) was an American alpine ski racer. She was the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in skiing. She was also the skiing stand-in for ice skater Sonja Henie in the movies ' ...

Andrea Mead Lawrence Andrea Mead Lawrence (April 19, 1932 – March 30, 2009) was an American alpine ski racer and environmentalist. She competed in three Winter Olympics and one additional World Championship (Olympic competitions also counted as the Worlds during t ...

Lindsey Vonn Lindsey Caroline Vonn ( ; born October 18, 1984) is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer on the US Ski Team. She won four World Cup overall championships — second only amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll — with three ...

, and

Mikaela Shiffrin Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin (born March 13, 1995) is an American two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and World Cup alpine skier. She is a four-time Overall World Cup champion, a four-time world champion in slalom, and a six-time winner of the World Cup ...

, McKinney is regarded as one of the top female alpine ski racers in U.S. history. She was inducted in the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004, and is a realtor in the

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...

area.

World Cup results

Season standings

Season titles

Race victories

*18 wins - (9 GS, 9 SL) *45 podiums

World championship results

From

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

through

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 – ...

, the

were also the

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, ...

for alpine skiing.

Olympic results

Video

You Tube.com
– 1989 World Championships – gold medal in combined

References

External links

* *

- biography - Tamara McKinney

– cover – 1984 Winter Olympics preview

- "For Purple Mountains' Majesty" (March 21, 1983)

- "Their Success Is All in the Family" (January 30, 1984)

(2004)
tamaramckinney.com
- web site - real estate {{DEFAULTSORT:McKinney, Tamara American female alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 1980 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers of the United States Sportspeople from California Sportspeople from Lexington, Kentucky 1962 births Living people FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions People from Olympic Valley, California Sportswomen from Kentucky 21st-century American women