Stephan "Steff" Eberharter (born 24 March 1969) 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 name is ...

alpine ski racer from

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 ...

Biography

Born in Brixlegg,

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

, Eberharter was the winner of the overall World Cup title in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, as well as the season titles in downhill and

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 ...

. He was the nearest rival of compatriot Hermann Maier in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Eberharter retired from international competition following the conclusion of the 2003–04 season.

Career

Eberharter made his World Cup debut during the

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

season at age 20, where he finished 32nd in the overall standings. The next year he finished second in the super-G standings and won two gold medals at the 1991 World Championships in Saalbach, the super-G and combined. He was voted the Austrian Sportspersonality of the year for 1991. After injury setbacks, he became particularly successful in the downhill event, and finished third in the downhill standings in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and was the runner-up in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. His nemesis on the snow, teammate Maier, was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in August 2001 which sidelined him for the 2002 season. In Maier's absence, Eberharter went on to take the overall World Cup title (and downhill and super-G) in

and

. His

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

victory at the

Hahnenkamm Hahnenkamm (means "comb (anatomy), comb") may refer to *Hahnenkamm (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft), a federation of municipalities in Bavaria, Germany *Hahnenkamm, Greenland, a mountain in the Stauning Alps, Greenland *Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel, a mountain ...

downhill in

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 ...

is often regarded as one of the most impressive downhill victories in alpine skiing history, besting runner-up Daron Rahlves by a lengthy 1.21 seconds, an equivalent of at . Eberharter enjoyed success at the World Championships and Olympic Games as well. In

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

in Saalbach, he won two gold medals in the super-G and combined events. Twelve years later, at

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

, he took gold in the super-G event again. At the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

in Nagano, Japan, he finished second in the

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 ...

, but went on to take gold in the same event at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, where he also won the bronze medal in the downhill, and took silver in the super-G. In his final season in 2004, Eberharter won four downhills and the downhill season title; he had twelve podiums, was second in the overall standings, and third in Super-G.

World Cup results

Season titles

* 7 titles – (2 overall, 3 DH, 2 SG)

Season standings

Race victories

* 29 wins – (18 DH, 6 SG, 5 GS) * 75 podiums – (38 DH, 24 SG, 13 GS)

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

* * *
Steff.at – personal site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eberharter, Stephan 1969 births People from Kufstein District Austrian male alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers for Austria Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Olympic gold medalists for Austria Olympic silver medalists for Austria Olympic bronze medalists for Austria FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions Living people Recipients of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria Skiers from Tyrol (federal state) 20th-century Austrian people 21st-century Austrian people 20th-century Austrian sportsmen