Carlo Fassi

Carlo Fassi
nation	Italy
birthday	December 20, 1929
place of birth	Milan,  Italy
date of death	20th March 1997 (age 67)
Place of death	Lausanne,  Switzerland
Career
discipline	Single run
Medal table
World Cup medals 0 × 0 × 1 × EM medals 2 × 1 × 2 ×
World figure skating championships bronze Davos 1953 Men's  European figure skating championships bronze Oslo 1950 Men's bronze Zurich 1951 Men's silver Vienna 1952 Men's gold Dortmund 1953 Men's gold Bolzano 1954 Men's

Carlo Fassi (born December 20, 1929 in Milan , † March 20, 1997 in Lausanne , Switzerland ) was an Italian figure skater and figure skating coach.

During his career as a figure skater, Fassi was Italian champion ten times in a row from 1945 to 1954. He won five medals at European championships . 1950 and 1951 he finished third, 1952 European runner-up and 1953 and 1954 finally European champion. At world championships it was enough to get a bronze medal, which he won in 1953 behind the two Americans Hayes Alan Jenkins and James Grogan . He took part in two Olympic Games . In 1948 in St. Moritz he was 15th and in 1952 in Oslo sixth. However, his own sporting successes are by no means comparable with the successes he was able to celebrate as a coach.

After the end of his career as a figure skater, Fassi began his coaching career. From 1956 to 1961 he trained in the Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo . There he was also the coach of the Italian World Cup team for four years. One of his first students was the young German figure skater Christa von Kuczkowski, who later became his wife and had three children with him, Riccardo, Monika and Lorenzo.

In 1961, the entire USA team , which was going to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague , was killed in a plane crash near Brussels , whereupon the World Cup was canceled. As a result of this tragic accident, the USA was looking for new coaches and Fassi became head coach at the famous Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs , replacing Edi Scholdan's fatally injured person . From then on, Carlo Fassi became one of the most successful coaches in the world. He trained Peggy Fleming , Dorothy Hamill , John Curry , Robin Cousins and Jill Trenary, among others . He trained Scott Hamilton and Paul Wylie early in their careers. He also coached the German runner Norbert Schramm to prepare him for the 1984 Winter Olympics. Figure skaters from all over the world came to train at Fassi, which gave his training camp an international and cosmopolitan atmosphere. Fassi's coaching account includes four Olympic victories and eight world championship titles. For comparison: Jutta Müller's students achieved three Olympic victories and ten world championship titles. In addition to his reputation as an excellent technical trainer, he was also considered a master of politics in the figure skating world. He had the ability to draw the judges' attention to his students. Fassi became an icon of figure skating. In the animated series The Peanuts , Snoopy developed an alter ego as a figure skating coach, which Fassi served as a model.

Fassi died unexpectedly of a heart attack during the 1997 World Cup in Lausanne . There he was present as the trainer of the American Nicole Bobek .

Results

Competition / year	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954
winter Olympics				15th				6th
World championships					8th.		6th	6th	3.
European championships					4th	3.	3.	2.	1.	1.
Italian championships	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.

Web links

• Carlo Fassi in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )