Deborah Compagnoni

Olympic medal record
Women's Alpine Skiing
Gold	1992 Albertville	Super-G
Gold	1994 Lillehammer	Giant Slalom
Gold	1998 Nagano	Giant Slalom
Silver	1998 Nagano	Slalom
World Championships
Gold	1996 Sierra Nevada	Giant Slalom
Gold	1997 Sestrières	Giant Slalom
Gold	1997 Sestrières	Slalom

Deborah Compagnoni (born June 4, 1970) is an Italian former Alpine skier who won three gold medals at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.

Career

Deborah Compagnoni was born in Bormio, northern Lombardy.

Compagnoni soon was noticed for her great talent. Her career was always marked by great successes, by also by great accidents. After her first great victory, the World Junior Title in Giant slalom, and her first podium in World Cup, she broke her right knee in the Val d'Isére downhill. After the surgery operation she decided to abandon the downhill races, where her talented could have permitted even greater successes than those she obtained in her yet victorious career.

Compagnoni won her first race in the World Cup in 1992. She also won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics of the same year, again in the Super-G: however, while racing the Giant Slalom, one day later, she destroyed her left knee.

In the following years she left the fast races (downhill and super-G), confirming herself as one of the best Giant Slalom specialists. Her fragile knees hindered Compagnoni's practice activity and limited the number of victories in the World Cup: however, she always presented in her best shapes for the great championships. In 1994, at the Lillehammer Olympics, she won gold medal in the Giant Slalom, a feat she repeated four years later in Nagano. In 1998 she won also a silver medal in the Slalom, finishing second by only 0.06 seconds.

Compagnoni won the World Champion in Giant Slalom in 1996: in the following year edition she confirmed the title, coupling it with the Slalom one, a deed never accomplished by any Italian female skier. She won a total of 16 races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup (14 Giant Slalom, 2 Super-G and 1 Slalom), plus a Giant Slalom World Cup in 1997.

Deborah Compagnoni is considered the best female skier ever of Italy, equal to famous male winners like Gustav Thöni and Alberto Tomba. The World Cup skiing track in her native Santa Caterina Valfurva has been named after her.

Family

She is married to Alessandro Benetton; they have three children: Agnese, Tobias, and Luce; they live in Ponzano Veneto, Italy.^[1][2]

World Cup victories

Overall

Season	Discipline
1997	Giant Slalom

Individual races

Date	Location	Race
January 26, 1992	Morzine	Super-G
March 7, 1993	Morzine	Super-G
December 5, 1993	Tignes	Giant Slalom
December 11, 1993	Veysonnaz	Giant Slalom
January 5, 1994	Morzine	Giant Slalom
February 24, 1994	Kvitfjell	Giant Slalom
January 8, 1995	Haus im Ennstal	Giant Slalom
March 2, 1996	Narvik	Giant Slalom
December 29, 1996	Semmering	Slalom
January 17, 1997	Zwiesel	Giant Slalom
January 18, 1997	Zwiesel	Giant Slalom
January 26, 1997	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Giant Slalom
March 15, 1997	Vail	Giant Slalom
October 25, 1997	Tignes	Giant Slalom
November 21, 1997	Park City	Giant Slalom
December 19, 1997	Val-d'Isère	Giant Slalom
January 6, 1998	Bormio	Giant Slalom

^[3]

References

1. ^ "A life in the day: Alessandro Benetton, retail magnate", The Sunday Times, John Follain, April 13, 2008
2. ^ "Alessandro Benetton: Future Perfect", Elle, Alexandra Marshall, January 06, 2010
3. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica almanac 2008

External links

• Ski-DB.com - Results - Deborah Compagnoni

Persondata
Name	Compagnoni, Deborah
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 4, 1970
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death