Jimmy Heuga

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Jimmy Heuga Alpine skiing
Full name James Frederic Heuga
nation United StatesUnited States United States
birthday September 23, 1943
place of birth San Francisco , United States
date of death February 8, 2010
Place of death Louisville
Career
discipline Giant slalom , slalom , combination
End of career 1970
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
World championships 0 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
bronze Innsbruck 1964 slalom
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
bronze Innsbruck 1964 slalom
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
 Individual World Cup debut 1967
 Overall World Cup 6. ( 1967 )
 Giant Slalom World Cup 3rd (1967)
 Slalom World Cup 9th (1967)
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 Giant slalom 0 2 0
 slalom 0 1 0
 

James Frederic "Jimmy" Heuga (born September 23, 1943 in San Francisco , California , † February 8, 2010 in Louisville , Colorado ) was an American ski racer . He was the first US ski racer to win an Olympic medal.

Heuga was born the son of a chair lift operator and grew up in the Californian ski resort of Squaw Valley . Before he could celebrate success as a skier, he was nine years old in a ski film by Warren Miller .

He achieved his first major success in the USA in 1961 with the combination victory in the Harriman Cup in Sun Valley . He achieved his breakthrough to the international top in 1962 when he finished fifth in the combination at the Alpine World Ski Championships in Chamonix, France .

Two years later Heuga celebrated the greatest success of his career. At the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck in 1964 , he finished third in slalom . His bronze medal, together with the silver medal from Billy Kidd in the same race, was the first medal ever that American ski racers could win in men's competitions at the Olympic Games.

Heuga underlined his sporting consistency at the 1966 World Ski Championships in Portillo . There he finished fourth in the combination and sixth in the slalom.

In 1970 Heuga had to end his sporting career abruptly after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis .

Based on the experience of his illness, he founded the "Heuga Center" near Vail in 1984 , a non-profit medical facility where people with chronic illnesses learn to positively influence their health through physical exercise and diet.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ denverpost.com: "Olympic skiing star Jimmie Heuga dies in Louisville", February 8, 2010

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Heuga, Jimmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heuga, James Frederic
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco , California
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 2010
Place of death Louisville , Colorado