Gustav Thöni (; sometimes listed as Gustavo Thoeni; born 28 February 1951) is an Italian retired

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 name is ...

Career

Thöni was born in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

-speaking province of

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

, in the hamlet of Trafoi of the Stilfs municipality, which is situated on the northern ramp of the Stelvio Pass. He currently operates a hotel there. Ranked among the greatest Italian skiers ever, Thöni won three Olympic medals and a total of four overall

titles in five years in the early 1970s. The four titles are an achievement he shares with

Pirmin Zurbriggen Pirmin Zurbriggen (born 4 February 1963) is a former FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer from Switzerland. One of the most successful ski racers ever, he won the overall World Cup title four times, an Alpine skiing ...

and Hermann Maier, exceeded by

Marcel Hirscher Marcel Hirscher (born 2 March 1989) is an Austrian-Dutch FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. Hirscher made his World Cup debut in March 2007. He competed primarily in slalom and giant slalom, as well as combined ...

's eight and

Marc Girardelli Marc Girardelli (born 18 July 1963) is an Austrian–Luxembourgish former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines. Biography Born in Lustenau, Austria into a family originally from ...

's five. Thöni was the dominant skier in the technical events ( slalom and

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in Slalom skiing, slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant sl ...

) in the early 1970s. At Val d'Isère, on 12 December 1968, was his World Cup debut. The 17-year-old placed 40th in the giant slalom (bib 110). His first victory came in the first race of the next season, a giant slalom at

Val d'Isère Val may refer to: Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a Soviet assault rifle Music *''Val'', album by Val Doonican * VAL (band), Belarusian pop duo People * Val (g ...

, France, in December 1969. Still a teenager, he had a very successful rookie year during that 1970 season with four victories and nine podiums. He finished third in the overall standings, just eight points behind winner

Karl Schranz Karl Schranz (born 18 November 1938) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria, one of the best of the 1960s and early 1970s. Born and raised in St. Anton, Tyrol, Schranz had a lengthy ski racing career, from 1957 to 1972. He won tw ...

of Austria. Thöni won the overall title the next three seasons of

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

– 73, and again in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. He was succeeded as the dominant technical skier by Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, then by Alberto Tomba. The year that Thöni did not win (

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; ...

), he was a close second to his fellow countryman and friend

Piero Gros Piero "Pierino" Gros (born 30 October 1954) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from northwestern Italy. He won the gold medal in slalom at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, and was the World Cup overall champion in 1974. Biography Gro ...

. He did win two world titles that year, in giant slalom and slalom, at the 1974 World Championships, but those results were not included in the World Cup standings. Although he concentrated on the technical events, he did occasionally compete in the only speed event of the era, the downhill (the

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 ...

was not run on the World Cup circuit until December 1982). His best finish in a downhill was a second place on the

Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel The Hahnenkamm is a mountain in Europe, directly southwest of Kitzbühel in the Kitzbühel Alps of Austria. The elevation of its summit is above sea level. The Hahnenkamm (''German language, German'': rooster's Comb (anatomy), comb) is part of ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, in January 1975. After more than two minutes on the classic ''Streif'' course, he lost to the up-and-coming Austrian legend

Franz Klammer Franz Klammer (born 3 December 1953) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria. He dominated the downhill event for four consecutive World Cup seasons (1975– 78). He was the gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, ...

by just one-hundredth of a second, a distance of about at . This event inspired the 1981 movie ''Un centesimo di secondo'' by

Duccio Tessari Duccio Tessari (11 October 1926 – 6 September 1994) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor, considered one of the fathers of Spaghetti Westerns. Born in Genoa, Tessari started in the fifties as documentarist and as screenwriter ...

, which featured Thöni himself. Thöni also won a number of combined events (downhill & slalom) during his career, including the non-medal titles in the combined at the Olympics in

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, ...

and

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

(but counted as

world championship 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 ...

titles). Thöni's final victory in a slalom came in March 1975 at Sun Valley. He won the final race of the season, a parallel slalom ("pro-style" heats) the following week in Val Gardena, Italy, against his challenger Stenmark to secure the overall title. His last win in giant slalom was in January 1976, and his final World Cup victory was in the combined at

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a town rights, medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbüh ...

in January 1977. His last podium finish was a third place in the slalom at

Åre Åre () is a Urban areas in Sweden, 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 Järpe ...

, Sweden, in February 1979. He finished eighth in the slalom 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 ...

at Lake Placid. As the torch had been passed on to the two top finishers, Stenmark and American Phil Mahre, Thöni retired from World Cup competition a month later in March 1980 at the age of 29. Later, he was a personal coach to Alberto Tomba (1989–1996). In parallel, he was technical director of the men's national team, and then, until 1999, general manager of both male and female national teams. Thöni was the Italian flag bearer at the opening ceremonies of the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and at the closing of the 2006 Winter Games in Torino. In 1973 and 1974 he was named "Skieur d’Or" by international ski journalists. He is mentioned in the song " Nuntereggae più" by Rino Gaetano. His cousin Roland Thöni was also a World Cup alpine ski racer in the 1970s. Roland took bronze in the slalom at the 1972 Olympics, while Gustav took the silver.

World Cup results

Season titles

* 8 titles (4 overall, 2 giant slalom, 2 slalom)

Season standings

Race victories

* 24 wins (11 GS, 8 SL, 4K, 1 PR) ** 69 podiums (2 DH, 26 GS, 32 SL, 8 K, 1 PR) *** 25 second places *** 20 third places *

races (over 300 starts)

World championship results

From

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

through

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

, the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held i ...

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 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

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

Olympic results

Video

* * *

References

External links

* *
Gustav Thöni
at Bella-Vista.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Thoni, Gustav 1951 births Living people People from Stilfs Italian male alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers for Italy Alpine skiers at the 1972 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1976 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1980 Winter Olympics Germanophone Italian people Olympic gold medalists for Italy Olympic silver medalists for Italy Olympic medalists in alpine skiing FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions Alpine skiers of Fiamme Gialle Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics Skiers from South Tyrol Italian alpine skiing coaches 20th-century Italian sportsmen