Christl Haas

Olympic medal record
Competitor for Austria
Women's alpine skiing
Gold 1964 Innsbruck Downhill
Bronze 1968 Grenoble Downhill

Christl Haas (September 19, 1943 – July 8, 2001) was an Austrian alpine skiing champion at the 1964 Winter Olympics.

Haas was born in at Kitzbühel. In the World Cup she won four downhill competitions in total.[1] At the Alpine skiing World Championship 1962 in Chamonix, France, she won gold in the downhill competition.

Haas became a national hero as a twenty year old Olympic champion in the downhill event at the first Innsbruck Winter Olympics. She became an instant superstar in her homeland as she won the gold medal in her home nation. Haas followed up her success at Innsbruck with a bronze medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.

As an Austrian gold medalist, Haas was selected with luger Josef Feistmantl to light the Olympic torch for the opening of the 1976 Winter Olympics on February 4, 1976.[2]

In 2001, Christl Haas had a heart attack while swimming in the Mediterranean Sea at Antalya, Turkey and died as a result.[3]

Notes and references

  1. ^ "Christl Haas AUT". SKI-DB. http://www.ski-db.com/db/profiles/whasc..asp. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 
  2. ^ "WHAT'S IN A FLAME?". The Washington Post. 2006-02-08. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-93341.html. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 
  3. ^ "Christl Haas; Skier, 57". The New York Times. 2001-07-10. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E5DE1138F933A25754C0A9679C8B63. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 

External links

Olympic Games
Preceded by
Hideo Takada
Final Winter Olympic Torchbearer
with Josef Feistmantl

Innsbruck 1976
Succeeded by
Charles Morgan Kerr