Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel. vancouver2010.com. 23 January 2010 (born 14 December 1956) is a retired

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

er alpine ski racer. Weirather is a former

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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, ...

. She won Liechtenstein's first-ever Olympic medal at the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

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 ...

, and its first two Olympic gold medals four years later in Lake Placid,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Biography

Born in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

at Straubing,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, Wenzel moved to Liechtenstein at an early age. After she and her younger brother

Andreas Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of B ...

had success in ski racing – Hanni won the gold medal in slalom and silver in the combined at the 1974 World Championships – the family was granted Liechtenstein citizenship. Winning the slalom title on 8 February 1974, she did become the youngest female Alpine Skiing World Champion in the Slalom discipline (17 years, 1 month, 25 days) - ousting

Esme Mackinnon Esmé Mackinnon (2 December 1913 – 9 July 1999), known as Muffie, was a British alpine skier from Edinburgh, Scotland, remembered as the first female FIS World Champion in both downhill and slalom. She was a member of the Ladies' Ski C ...

who was the first female Alpine Skiing Champion in 1931; the British racer was 17 years, 2 month and 17 days young when she was victorious in the slalom race on 19 February 1931. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, she won the country's first Olympic medal, a bronze in the slalom at

Axamer Lizum Axamer Lizum is a village and ski resort in Austria, located southwest of Innsbruck in the state of Tyrol. At the 1964 Winter Olympics, it hosted five of the six alpine skiing events: women's downhill, and men's and women's slalom and giant slal ...

, and also picked up another world championship medal in the combined. After winning the

overall title in

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 ...

, Wenzel's best year came in

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 – ...

. At the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

in Lake Placid, she won gold medals in the slalom and

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 ...

, and just missed out on a sweep by taking the silver in the

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 ...

Whiteface Mountain Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in the U.S. state of New York, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view of the Adirondacks and clear ...

. She also easily won the world championship gold medal in the combined event, its final edition as a "paper race" and her fourth world championship medal in that event. At the same Olympics, her brother also won a silver medal, placing Liechtenstein high in the medal ranking of the games. In addition to her Olympic success, she won nine World Cup races in 1980 and captured the overall, giant slalom, and combined season titles, and brother Andreas won the men's overall for a Wenzel family sweep of the overall titles. Her daughter

Tina Weirather Christina "Tina" Weirather (born 24 May 1989) is a retired Liechtensteiner World Cup alpine ski racer. She won a bronze medal in Super-G for Liechtenstein at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Racing career Weirather made her World Cup ...

won a bronze medal in

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 ...

for

at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

PyeongChang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

. Wenzel was banned from 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 ...

by the

International Ski Federation The ''Fédération internationale de ski et de snowboard'' (FIS; en, International Ski and Snowboard Federation) is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. Founded on 2 February 1924 in Chamonix, France during the ...

(FIS) for accepting promotional payments directly, rather than through the national ski federation.

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 ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

was also banned; both were double gold medalists in

. Wenzel retired following the 1984 season with two Olympic titles, four World titles, two overall World Cups, three discipline World Cups plus three combined titles, and 33 World Cup victories. (Through

, the Olympics were also the World Championships.) Through the

, Liechtenstein has won a total of ten medals at the Winter Olympics, with eight won by two sets of siblings – the Wenzels earned six, while brothers

Willi Willi is a given name, nickname (often a short form or hypocorism of Wilhelm) and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Willi Apel (1893–1988), German-American musicologist * Willi Boskovsky (1909–1991), Austrian violin ...

and

Paul Frommelt Paul Frommelt (born 9 August 1957) is a former Alpine skier from Liechtenstein and young brother of Willi Frommelt. Career In the 1970s and 1980s he belonged to the Liechtenstein skiing team together with the siblings Andreas Wenzel and Hanni We ...

are responsible for two more.

World cup results

Season titles

7 titles – (2 overall, 2

, 1 slalom, 2 combined)

Season standings

Race victories

* 33 wins – (11 SL, 12 GS, 2 DH, 8 K) * 89 podiums

World Championship results

From 1948 through

, 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 ...

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.
At the World Championships from

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).

Olympic results

*Wenzel and

were banned from the 1984 Olympics (endorsement compensation).

Family

Wenzel is a sister of World Cup ski racers

Petra Wenzel Petra Wenzel (born 20 November 1961 in Grabs, Saint Gallen, Switzerland) is a former alpine skier who competed in the 1980 Winter Olympics and 1984 Winter Olympics representing Liechtenstein. Career Wenzel made her World Cup debut in 1979 at L ...

and

Andreas Wenzel Andreas Wenzel (born 18 March 1958) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Liechtenstein, active from 1976 to 1988. Born in Planken, he was the overall World Cup champion in 1980, the same season in which his older sister Hanni won the w ...

, and the wife of Austrian ski racer

Harti Weirather Hartmann "Harti" Weirather (born January 25, 1958) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria. Born in Reutte, Tyrol, he specialized in the downhill event. Racing career During the early 1980s, Weirather won six World Cup downhill ra ...

, the

in downhill in 1982. Wenzel and Weirather run their own sports marketing agency, and their daughter

is also a World Cup ski racer.. fisalpine.com

Honours

* Commander's Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Principality of Liechtenstein The Order of Merit of the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: Fürstlich liechtensteinischer Verdienstorden) is an order of merit of the Principality of Liechtenstein that is awarded for services rendered to the principality. Prince Franz I fo ...

(06/09/2017).

References

External links

*
wwp-group.com
– Weirather-Wenzel & Partner GmbH – ' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wenzel, Hani 1956 births Living people German female alpine skiers Liechtenstein female alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers of Liechtenstein Olympic gold medalists for Liechtenstein Olympic silver medalists for Liechtenstein Olympic bronze medalists for Liechtenstein Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1976 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1980 Winter Olympics FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions German emigrants to Liechtenstein People from Straubing Sportspeople from Lower Bavaria