Edy Reinalter

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Edy Reinalter (born December 24, 1920 in St. Moritz ; † November 19, 1962 in Tschagguns ) was a Swiss ski racer . He is the only Swiss who became an Olympic champion in slalom . His real first name was "Romedi", from which "Edi" or "Edy" was derived.

Reinalter was a member of the so-called Guardia Grischa , a group of Graubünden skiers who dominated international competitions in the years after the Second World War. He had learned to be a mechanic, but then became a ski instructor. But he gave up this job in order to be able to take part in the Olympic Games, and he was recently employed by the St. Moritz Kurverein before the Olympic Games in St. Moritz.

He experienced a great moment in his career at the 1948 Winter Olympics , which were held in his home town of St. Moritz . After he was in third place in the slalom competition after the 1st round, he sat at the top of the field in the 2nd round with the fastest time and became Olympic and world champion with five tenths of a margin ahead of the Frenchman James Couttet . This remained the greatest international success in Reinalter's sporting career. He also took part in the downhill in St. Moritz , where he came in 22nd place. In the combination he reached 10th place. Four years earlier, in 1943, he was Swiss champion in slalom.

On November 19, 1962, at the age of 41, Reinalter accidentally shot himself while he was cleaning his hunting rifle while hunting in Schruns in Vorarlberg . He had missed a cartridge stuck in the barrel.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Edi Reinalter wins gold medal in special slalom"; Subtitle in column 4: "Edi Reinalter"; “Sport Zürich”, No. 18 from February 6, 1948, page 2.
personal data
SURNAME Reinalter, Edy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reinalter, Romedi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Moritz
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1962
Place of death Tschagguns , Austria