Gustav Thöni

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Gustav Thöni Alpine skiing
Gustav Thöni 1972.jpg
nation ItalyItaly Italy
birthday 28th February 1951 (age 69)
place of birth Trafoi , Italy
job hotelier
Career
discipline Downhill , giant slalom ,
slalom , combination
status resigned
End of career March 15, 1980
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × gold 2 × silver 0 × bronze
World championships 5 × gold 2 × silver 0 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
gold Sapporo 1972 Giant slalom
silver Sapporo 1972 slalom
silver Innsbruck 1976 slalom
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
gold Sapporo 1972 Giant slalom
gold Sapporo 1972 combination
silver Sapporo 1972 slalom
gold St. Moritz 1974 Giant slalom
gold St. Moritz 1974 slalom
gold Innsbruck 1976 combination
silver Innsbruck 1976 slalom
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
 Individual World Cup debut December 11, 1969
 Individual world cup victories 24
 Overall World Cup 1. ( 1970/71 , 1971/72 ,
1972/73 , 1974/75 )
 Downhill World Cup 9. (1974/75)
 Giant Slalom World Cup 1. ( 1969/70 , 1970/71,
1971/72)
 Slalom World Cup 1. (1972/73, 1973/74 )
 Combination World Cup 2. ( 1975/76 )
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 Departure 0 1 1
 Giant slalom 11 7th 8th
 slalom 8th 15th 9
 combination 4th 2 2
 Parallel races 1 0 0
 

Gustav Thöni (born February 28, 1951 in Trafoi - one often reads the Italianized spelling Gustavo Thoeni ) is a former Italian ski racer , former alpine ski racing trainer and hotelier. The South Tyrolean slalom and giant slalom specialist was one of the most successful racers ever in the 1970s. He won the overall ranking of the Ski World Cup four times and 24 world cup races, was world champion five times and won three medals (one gold and two silver) at the Olympic Games . After retiring from top-class sport, he celebrated numerous other successes as Alberto Tomba's personal trainer and as head coach of the Italian national team. His cousin Roland Thöni was also a ski racer.

Sports career

The son of the village school teacher Georg Thöni, who had to break off his own sports career because of the war, grew up with his 6 weeks older cousin Roland Thöni in the small mountain village of Trafoi at the foot of the Stilfser Joch . The parents owned a pension and also ran a ski lift . The father recognized and encouraged his son's talent, but also ensured a good education: After primary school, Gustav Thöni attended the middle school boarding school in Merano and then the commercial school.

1968 Thöni was accepted into the Italian national team. With a newly developed transfer technology , with which he could drive up the gates particularly high, he revolutionized the driving style of that time and immediately went to the top of the world. He first drew attention to himself as a giant slalom winner in the Alpine Cup on March 29, 1969 in Val-d'Isère , when he left the French elite behind him. On December 11, 1969, he took part in his first World Cup race: he won the giant slalom in Val-d'Isère by over a second over the Frenchman Patrick Russel . After winning three more races in January 1970 (he celebrated his first slalom victory in Hindelang , it was only his third race), he was already a big favorite before the 1970 World Ski Championships , which took place near his home in Val Gardena . Thöni could not withstand the pressure: In the giant slalom he was eliminated after the third goal and in the slalom he just missed the medals in fourth. At the end of his first season, however, he was clear as the winner of the Giant Slalom World Cup, in the overall World Cup he was third - just eight points behind winner Karl Schranz .

First overall world victory in 1970/71 and Olympic gold in 1972

In the 1970/71 season, Thöni left the competition far behind. He won four races and achieved numerous podiums. In Sugarloaf , USA , he was on the podium for the first time in a descent (but it should never be enough for him to win this discipline). He won the overall World Cup ranking for the first time, and he shared his victory in the Giant Slalom World Cup with Patrick Russel tied on points. At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo , Thöni was able to live up to his role as a favorite: He became Olympic champion in giant slalom and won the silver medal in slalom, beaten only by the surprising Spaniard Francisco Fernández Ochoa . He won another gold medal in the combination, which was not considered an Olympic discipline, but a world championship. Thöni won only one race during the 1971/72 World Cup season, but this was enough to win the overall World Cup again; he also won the giant slalom world cup.

Double world champion 1974

Thöni continued his streak of success in the 1972/73 season. With three wins, he secured the overall World Cup ranking for the third time in a row, and was also the first to win the Slalom World Cup. At the 1974 World Ski Championships in St. Moritz , Thöni was world champion in both giant slalom and slalom. His performance in the slalom was particularly impressive when he improved from eighth to first place in the second run. The 1973/74 World Cup season also turned out to be successful with three wins, but in the overall standings Thöni had to admit defeat to his compatriot Piero Gros . However, he decided the Slalom World Cup for the second time in a row. In 1973 and 1974 he was awarded the Skieur d'Or by the International Association of Ski Journalists (AIJS) .

Again overall World Cup winner

In the 1974/75 season Thöni was again very successful. He won six races, including a combined classification for the first time . On the Streif in Kitzbühel he achieved his second (and also last) podium finish in a downhill, he was only a hundredth of a second behind the winner Franz Klammer . Before the last race of the season, a parallel slalom in Val Gardena, Gustav Thöni, Ingemar Stenmark and Franz Klammer were at the top of the overall standings with 240 points each. In the final round, Thöni prevailed against Stenmark and thus won the overall World Cup for the fourth time.

In the following winter, Thöni concentrated entirely on the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck . He led the ranking after the first run of the giant slalom, but then fell back to fourth place. In slalom he won the silver medal behind Piero Gros, and the gold medal in the combined ranking, which counts as the world championship. During the 1975/76 season Thöni was able to win two races, but he was increasingly in the shadow of the Swede Ingemar Stenmark and finally came third in the overall standings.

During the 1976/77 season, Thöni fell further and further behind Stenmark and only won one combination classification. In 1977/78 his best result was fifth, the descent at the World Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen he finished twelfth. In February 1979 he made it onto the podium for the last time at the slalom in Åre . At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid , Thöni finished eighth in the slalom, and he drove his last World Cup race on March 15, 1980 in Saalbach-Hinterglemm (15th in slalom).

As one of the most successful Italian winter sports enthusiasts, Gustav Thöni was chosen by CONI to be the flag bearer at the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games in Innsbruck in 1976 and in Lake Placid in 1980.

Trainer and entrepreneur

After the end of his sports career, Thöni tried to gain a foothold as a film actor, but the two films “Der Abfahrer” and “One hundredth of a second” turned out to be flops. Even before his resignation, he had already started to invest the fortune generated by his sporting successes in the expansion of his parents' pension (which was also the house where he was born) into a hotel . He runs the “Bella Vista” hotel together with his wife Ingrid and their three daughters Petra, Susanne and Anna.

For a few years Thöni was employed as a junior trainer for the Italian ski association. From 1989 to 1996 he was the personal trainer of Alberto Tomba and together with him he achieved numerous successes (overall World Cup 1995, two world championship titles, one Olympic victory). He was then head coach of the Italian men's national ski team until 1999.

successes

Gustav Thöni's birthplace in Trafoi

Olympic games

(also counted as world championships)

World championships

World Cup ratings

Gustav Thöni won the overall World Cup in the 1970/71 , 1971/72 , 1972/73 and 1974/75 seasons. There are also five victories in discipline ratings (three times giant slalom, twice slalom).

season total Departure Giant slalom slalom combination
space Points space Points space Points space Points space Points
1969/70 3. 140 - - 1. 75 4th 65 - -
1970/71 1. 155 13. 15th 1. 70 2. 70 - -
1971/72 1. 154 17th 4th 1. 84 4th 66 - -
1972/73 1. 166 - - 4th 55 1. 110 - -
1973/74 2. 165 - - 3. 85 1. 80 - -
1974/75 1. 250 9. 39 4th 60 2. 99 - -
1975/76 3. 190 - - 2. 82 3. 58 2. 50
1976/77 6th 145 - - 10. 29 5. 63 - -
1977/78 26th 22nd 23. 4th 10. 17th 22nd 4th - -
1978/79 9. 92 - - 20th 26th 9. 64 - -
1979/80 51. 18th - - - - 18th 18th - -

World Cup victories

Gustav Thöni has won a total of 24 world cup races (11 giant slalom, 8 slalom, 1 parallel slalom, 4 combinations). There are also 25 second places and 20 third places. 114 times he was classified in the top ten.

Slalom (including parallel slalom *)

date place country
4th January 1970 Hindelang Germany
January 10, 1971 Madonna di Campiglio Italy
February 25, 1971 Heavenly Valley United States
4th February 1973 St. Anton am Arlberg Austria
March 4th 1973 Mont Sainte-Anne Canada
March 10, 1974 Vysoké Tatry Czechoslovakia
January 30, 1975 Chamonix France
March 15, 1975 Sun Valley United States
March 23, 1975 * Val Gardena Italy

combination

date place country
January 12, 1975 Wengen Switzerland
19th January 1975 Kitzbühel Austria
1st February 1975 Megève France
January 16, 1977 Kitzbühel Austria

Giant slalom

date place country
February 11, 1969 Val d'Isère France
January 29, 1970 Madonna di Campiglio Italy
January 30, 1970 Madonna di Campiglio Italy
February 21, 1971 Sugarloaf United States
February 27, 1971 Heavenly Valley United States
March 2nd 1972 Heavenly Valley United States
15th January 1973 Adelboden Switzerland
January 21, 1974 Adelboden Switzerland
March 2nd 1974 Voss Norway
5th December 1975 Val d'Isère France
January 13, 1976 Adelboden Switzerland

Italian championships

A total of five title wins :

  • Combination: 1970
  • Slalom: 1971, 1973
  • Giant slalom: 1975, 1977

More Achievements

  • Combination Madonna di Campiglio 9./10. January 1971

Honors

literature

Web links

Commons : Gustav Thöni  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thöni made surprise perfect. Arbeiter-Zeitung , March 30, 1969, accessed March 16, 2015 .
  2. ↑ sportrevue from the weekend . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 12, 1971, p. 14 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
personal data
SURNAME Thöni, Gustav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thoeni, Gustavo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Trafoi