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Deborah Compagnoni (born June 4, 1970) is an Italian former Alpine skier who won three gold medals at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.
[edit] Career
Deborah Compagnoni was born in Bormio, northern Lombardy.
Compagnoni soon was noticed for her great talent. Her career was always marked by great successes, by also by great accidents. After her first great victory, the World Junior Title in Giant slalom, and her first podium in World Cup, she broke her right knee in the Val d'Isére downhill. After the surgery operation she decided to abandon the downhill races, where her talented could have permitted even greater successes than those she obtained in her yet victorious career.
Compagnoni won her first race in the World Cup in 1992. She also won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics of the same year, again in the Super-G: however, while racing the Giant Slalom, one day later, she destroyed her left knee.
In the following years she left the fast races (downhill and super-G), confirming herself as one of the best Giant Slalom specialists. Her fragile knees hindered Compagnoni's practice activity and limited the number of victories in the World Cup: however, she always presented in her best shapes for the great championships. In 1994, at the Lillehammer Olympics, she won gold medal in the Giant Slalom, a feat she repeated four years later in Nagano. In 1998 she won also a silver medal in the Slalom, finishing second by only 0.06 seconds.
Compagnoni won the World Champion in Giant Slalom in 1996: in the following year edition she confirmed the title, coupling it with the Slalom one, a deed never accomplished by any Italian female skier. She won a total of 16 races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup (14 Giant Slalom, 2 Super-G and 1 Slalom), plus a Giant Slalom World Cup in 1997.
Deborah Compagnoni is considered the best female skier ever of Italy, equal to famous male winners like Gustav Thöni and Alberto Tomba. The World Cup skiing track in her native Santa Caterina Valfurva has been named after her.
[edit] World Cup victories
| Date |
Location |
Race |
| January 26, 1992 |
 Morzine |
Super-G |
| March 7, 1993 |
Morzine |
Super-G |
| December 5, 1993 |
Tignes |
Giant Slalom |
| December 11, 1993 |
 Veysonnaz |
Giant Slalom |
| January 5, 1994 |
Morzine |
Giant Slalom |
| February 24, 1994 |
 Kvitfjell |
Giant Slalom |
| January 8, 1995 |
 Haus im Ennstal |
Giant Slalom |
| March 2, 1996 |
Narvik |
Giant Slalom |
| December 29, 1996 |
Semmering |
Slalom |
| January 17, 1997 |
 Zwiesel |
Giant Slalom |
| January 18, 1997 |
Zwiesel |
Giant Slalom |
| January 26, 1997 |
 Cortina d'Ampezzo |
Giant Slalom |
| March 15, 1997 |
 Vail |
Giant Slalom |
| October 25, 1997 |
Tignes |
Giant Slalom |
| November 21, 1997 |
Park City |
Giant Slalom |
| December 19, 1997 |
Val d'Isere |
Giant Slalom |
| January 6, 1998 |
Bormio |
Giant Slalom |
