Giorgio Rocca (born 6 August 1975) is an Italian former

alpine skier Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

, a specialist in slalom skiing. Together with

Marc Girardelli Marc Girardelli (born 18 July 1963) is an Austrian and Luxembourgish former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines. Biography Born in Lustenau, Austria, Girardelli started skiing at ...

Ingemar Stenmark Jan Ingemar Stenmark (; born 18 March 1956) is a Swedish former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is regarded as one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever, and as the greatest slalom and giant slalom specialist of all time. He competed fo ...

and

Marcel Hirscher Marcel Hirscher (born 2 March 1989) is an Austrian former World Cup alpine ski racer. Hirscher made his World Cup debut in March 2007. He competed primarily in slalom and giant slalom, as well as combined and occasionally in super G. Winner of ...

, he is one of four skiers to have won 5

Alpine Skiing World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France ( ...

slaloms in a row, which he achieved in the 2005/2006 season: only

Alberto Tomba Alberto Tomba (born 19 December 1966 in San Lazzaro di Savena) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Italy. He was the dominant technical skier (slalom and giant slalom) in the late 1980s and 1990s. At 182 cm and 90 kg, his powerful ...

(7) has won more World Cup slaloms consecutively. He is currently ninth in the list of all-time slalom winners, with a total of 11 victories.

Biography

Rocca was born in

Chur , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Churwalden, Tschiertschen-Praden, Domat/Ems, Felsberg, Malix, Trimmis, Untervaz, Pfäfers , twintowns = Bad Homburg (Germany), Cabourg (France), Mayrhofen (Austria), Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxe ...

, Switzerland. His father is

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

from

Livigno Livigno (; local lmo, Livígn ; german: Luwin) is a town, ''comune'' and a special-administered territory in the province of Sondrio, in the region of Lombardy, Italy, located in the Italian Alps, near the Swiss border. History Livigno's firs ...

and his mother is Romansh from

Scuol Scuol () is a municipality in the Engiadina Bassa/Val Müstair Region in the Swiss canton of Grisons. The official language in Scuol is Romansh. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Ardez, Guarda, Tarasp, Ftan and Sent merged in ...

in the

Lower Engadine The Engadin or Engadine ( rm, ;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is '' ...

. He made his debut in the Alpine Skiing World Cup on 6 January 1996 in

Flachau Flachau is a village in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian state of Salzburg, with a population of 2,802 (2016 data). Its numerous skiing facilities are part of the Ski Amadé network of ski areas, one of the largest in Europe. ...

. However, Rocca broke his right knee and was forced off the tour for a year. In March 1997 he scored his first point-scoring result in the World Cup, at the

Shigakogen is a ski resort and hiking spot, located in the Jōshin'etsu-kōgen National Park in the highlands of Yamanouchi, Nagano, Japan. In 1980, an area of was designated a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve. Ski resort At 4.25 square kilometres ...

slalom. He scored his first top ten finish in November 1998, at the

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...

slalom. One year later Rocca finally secured his first podium finish, scoring a third place in the renowned Kitzbühel slalom. In 1999 he won the bronze medal at the Alpine World Skiing Championships in

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 ...

. Rocca began to be considered the legitimate heir of Italy's Alberto Tomba, who had just retired. This responsibility however, seemed to crush Rocca and stunted his progress, together with another knee accident. After two difficult seasons, in 2001 Rocca was again on the podium, with second places in Aspen and

Madonna di Campiglio Madonna di Campiglio (german: Sankt Maria im Pein) is a village and a ski resort in northeast Italy. It is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Pinzolo. The village lies in the Val Rendena at an elevation of above sea level, and has approximat ...

. In January 2003, after another 2nd in the

Sestriere Sestriere (/se'strjɛre/) ( oc, Sestrieras, pms, Ël Sestrier, french: Sestrières) is a ski resort in Piedmont, Italy, a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa, from the French border. Its name ...

slalom, Rocca finally won his first World Cup race on the

Lauberhorn The Lauberhorn is a mountain in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, located between Wengen and Grindelwald, north of the Kleine Scheidegg. Its summit is at an elevation of above sea level. Lauberhorn ski races The mountain is best known for the ...

piste at

Wengen Wengen () is a mountain village in the Bernese Oberland of central Switzerland. Located in the canton of Bern at an elevation of above sea level, it is part of the Jungfrauregion and has approximately 1,300 year-round residents, which swells to ...

in Switzerland. In the 2005 season he took two victories at

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

and

, and two bronze medals at his home World Championship in

Bormio Bormio ( lmo, Bormi, rm, italic=yes, , german: Worms im Veltlintal) is a town and ''comune'' with a population of about 4,100 located in the Province of Sondrio, Lombardy region of the Alps in northern Italy. The centre of the upper Valtellina ...

, in the slalom and the combined. Rocca won again in February 2005, this time at

Kranjska Gora Kranjska Gora (; german: Kronau) is a town in northwestern Slovenia, on the Sava Dolinka River in the Upper Carniola region, close to the Austrian and Italian borders. It is the seat of the Municipality of Kranjska Gora. Name Kranjska Gora wa ...

, and for a while was in contention for the Slalom World Cup title for the season. Rocca started the 2005/2006 season with an impressive series of five wins a row in the first five slalom races. He explained his notable improvements from a psychological point of view, as he had taken advantage of the help of a team of

psychologists A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

to solve the alleged fragility that had thwarted him in past seasons. Rocca currently lives in

. In his career he competed for C.S. Carabinieri. He recited the

Olympic oath The Olympic Oath (distinct from the Olympic creed) is a solemn promise made by one athlete, judge or official, and one coach at the Opening Ceremony of each Olympic Games. Each oath taker is from the host nation and takes the oath on behalf of all ...

at the

2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony The Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics (''Torino 2006'') was held on 10 February 2006 beginning at 20:00 CET (UTC+1) at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, Italy. The ceremony was attended by 35,000 spectators with the presence of numerous ...

. It was at these Olympics that he was hoping to win gold in his strongest event: slalom, after his great success in the world championships, so he decided to focus on this event. He did not enter the Giant Slalom or

Super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event d ...

as originally planned, however he did compete in the Combined race where he placed 5th with a total time of 3:10.74. In the Slalom he was the first starter but he straddled at the second gate, throwing away his chances of being champion. In January 2010, Rocca confirmed his retirement from competition, bringing forward plans to end his racing career at the end of the season due to his sustaining a groin injury in training which prevented him from competing at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...

World Cup results

Overall

Individual victories

References

External links