Gian Simmen

Gian Simmen
nation	Switzerland
birthday	19th February 1977 (age 43)
size	174 cm
Weight	68 kg
Career
discipline	halfpipe
society	Arosa ski club
End of career	17th January 2013
Medal table
Olympic medals 1 × 0 × 0 × ISF World Championships 2 × 0 × 0 × European championships 0 × 0 × 1 ×
winter Olympics gold 1998 Nagano halfpipe ISF World Championships gold 2001 halfpipe gold 2002 halfpipe European championships bronze 1998 halfpipe
Placements
World cup
Debut in the World Cup November 25, 1997  World Cup victories 2
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  halfpipe 2 2 0
last change: January 22, 2013

Gian Simmen (born February 19, 1977 in Chur ) is a Swiss snowboarder from Arosa . With his victory at the 1998 Winter Olympics , he is the first half-pipe Olympic champion in snowboarding. In addition, he was ISF World Champion in the same discipline in 2001 and 2002 .

life and career

The nephew of the former national ice hockey player Jöri Mattli spent the first years of his life with his parents and two brothers in Davos . In 1991 the Simmen family moved to Arosa, where their father took over the management of the local Robinson Club . Gian started out skiing before he came to snowboarding through skateboarding in 1989 . Just one year later, he was playing his first halfpipe competition, as part of what was then the Regio Cup. In 1995 he took part in the Junior World Championships in Slovenia, where he reached 5th place. After this first international success, Simmen began consistent training on the newly built halfpipe on Tschuggen , teaching himself most of the jumps and tricks without a trainer.

In 1996 he became Swiss champion, in 1998 second at the World Cup of the International Ski Federation (FIS) in St. Moritz and third at the European Snowboard Championships in Fieberbrunn . Simmen then switched to the professionals, but initially could not win an international race. So he only went to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano as an outsider, when he surprisingly won the gold medal in the halfpipe on February 12 with 85.2 points . On the occasion of Simmen's return from Japan, the Arosa halfpipe was completely sprayed with gold paint.

In Salt Lake City at the 2002 Winter Olympics , where Simmen was allowed to carry the flag of the Swiss Olympic team, after a fall in the second round it was only enough for 18th place with 33.5 points. In contrast, he became ISF World Champion in 2002, as in the previous year, and ended the season as number 1 in the halfpipe world rankings for the second time in a row.

Also for the Olympic Games in Turin could Grisons qualify again and was 33.8 points 19. After these games, he resigned from the national team, however, went further as a professional in the team of Santa Cruz Snowboards , O'Neill, Smith, Drake, Level, Ford, Northwave and has appeared in numerous snowboard films and photo shoots.

Simmen also worked as a commentator on the freestyle.ch event and on Swiss sports television , where he also contributed to the Arosa ClassicCar . On the occasion of Thomas Gottschalk's farewell broadcast on Wetten, dass ..? On December 3rd, 2011 he took part in an outdoor bet in Ischgl as a snowboarder .

Simmen's last competition as a professional was on January 17, 2013 at the O'Neill Evolution in Davos. Since then he has concentrated on filming and taking photos as a snowboarder and works as an expert for Swiss television . He does not continue his temporary work as a trainer at Swiss-Snowboard . In autumn 2016 it was announced that Simmen would be the head of the Freestyle Park in Grindelwald for the Jungfrau Railways and would also become their brand ambassador.

Gian Simmen has been living with his wife Petra and their four sons Niculin, Florin, Jamin and Andrin in Krattigen on Lake Thun for several years .

successes

Olympic games

• Nagano 1998 : 1st half pipe
• Salt Lake City 2002 : 18th halfpipe
• Turin 2006 : 19th halfpipe

ISF World Championships

• ISF World Championships 2001: 1st halfpipe
• ISF World Championships 2002: 1st halfpipe

European championships

• European Championships: 3rd halfpipe

FIS World Cup

• 4 podium places in 10 races, including 2 wins:

date	place	country	discipline
November 18, 2000	Tignes	France	halfpipe
January 9, 2002	Arosa	Switzerland	halfpipe

Further successes (selection)

• 1996: Swiss champion halfpipe
• 2006: Winner of the O'Neill Pro Freestyle ( Quarterpipe )
• 2009: Winner of the Walliser Tour Belalp (Quarterpipe)

swell

• Neue Zürcher Zeitung of January 16, 2013, p. 42.
• Southeastern Switzerland from January 15, 2013, p. 24.
• Hans Danuser : Arosa - as it was then , vol. 7 (1996-2003), self-published by Danuser, Arosa 2004, p. 43, 101 f.
• Hans Danuser / SC Arosa (Ed.): 100 Years of Arosa Ski Club 1903-2003 , self-published by SC Arosa, Arosa 2003, p. 114 ff.

Web links

Commons : Gian Simmen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Gian Simmen in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Gian Simmen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Information about Gian Simmen at Munzinger.de
• Information about Gian Simmen at O'Neill
• Video clip Gian Simmen jumping training in the Arosa Forest

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aroser Zeitung of November 28, 2014, p. 11.
2. ↑ Gian Simmen on "Wetten, dass ...?" Retrieved January 19, 2013.
3. ↑ Aroser Zeitung of June 21, 2013, p. 21.
4. ↑ Southeastern Switzerland of July 21, 2015.