Henri Oreiller

French alpine skier Henri Jean Auguste Oreiller (5 December 1925 – 7 October 1962) was an alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from France. He won two gold medals and a bronze at the 1948 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete at those Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Biography Born in Paris, he is the son of Léon Oreiller, of Italian origin, and Marguerite Favre, from Savoie. His parents lived in Paris and frequented Val d'Isère for holidays. Oreiller was a member of Section Eclairuers Skieurs, a specialist skiing section of the French Resistance during World War II. After the liberation of Paris, he fought in the Alps in an elite winter combat unit of the French Army. Nicknamed the "Parisian of Val d'Isère" or the "madman of downhill", he was the inaugural downhill gold medallist at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics, with a record margin of four seconds over the runner-up. His medals cache included: the gold medal in the combined event, and the bronze medal in the special slalom. He missed one of his medal ceremonies because he was playing accordion in a local bar, and received his medal a week later. He competed in the 1950 World Championships at Aspen and