Henna Raita (24 January 1975 in Lahti, Finland) is a former alpine skier.
Raita has been part of the Finnish Alpine skiing team since the 1990s. She got her first World Cup points during the 1999–2000 season in Copper Mountain, USA when she was 13th in slalom.
She competed in three Olympic Games between 1998 and 2006, with an 8th placing in the Women's Slalom at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 her best result. [1]
Raita stands 1.73 metres (5 ft 8 in) tall.
She retired in 2006 and nowadays makes music using the artist name Hehewuti. [2]
Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel is a retired Liechtensteiner alpine ski racer. Wenzel is a former Olympic, World Cup, and world champion. She won Liechtenstein's first-ever Olympic medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and its first two Olympic gold medals four years later in Lake Placid, New York.
Pernilla Wiberg is a Swedish former alpine ski racer and businesswoman. She competed on the World Cup circuit between 1990 and 2002, where she became one of the few all-event winners. Having won two Olympic gold medals, four World Championships and one World Cup overall title, she is one of the most successful alpine ski racers of the 1990s. On club level, she represented Norrköpings SK. She was born in Norrköping.
Vanessa-Mae, also called Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, is a British violinist with album sales reaching several million, having made her the wealthiest entertainer under 30 in the United Kingdom in 2006. She competed under the name Vanessa Vanakorn for Thailand in alpine skiing at the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was initially banned from skiing by the International Ski Federation (FIS) after participating in a qualifying race allegedly organised to enable her to qualify for the Winter Olympics. An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport led to the ban being nullified, citing lack of evidence for her own wrongdoing or any manipulation. The FIS later issued an apology to her.
Janica Kostelić is a Croatian former alpine ski racer. She is a four-time Olympic gold medalist. In addition to the Olympics, she won five gold medals at the World Championships. In World Cup competition, she won thirty individual races, three overall titles, three slalom titles, and four combined titles. Kostelic's accomplishments in professional skiing have led some commentators, writers, and fellow ski racers to regard her as the greatest female ski racer of all time.
Tina Maze is a retired Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer.
Tanja Tuulia Poutiainen is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Finland. She specialized in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and was the silver medalist in the women's giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.
Marlies Raich is a retired Austrian World Cup alpine ski racer. She specializes in the technical disciplines of slalom and giant slalom. Schild won four Olympic medals, with silvers in the combined (2006) and slalom and a bronze in slalom (2006). She has seven World Championship medals and has won five World Cup season titles.
India sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10–26 February 2006. This was the nation's seventh appearance in a Winter Olympic Games. The Indian delegation consisted of four athletes, two in alpine skiing, one in cross-country skiing, and one in luge. Their best performance in any event was 25th by luger Shiva Keshavan in the men's singles.
Ireland sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10–26 February 2006. This was Ireland's fourth appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The Irish delegation to Turin consisted of four athletes, two alpine skiers, one cross-country skier, and one skeleton racer. The best performance by any Irish competitor at these Olympics was 20th, by David Connolly in the men's skeleton race. The Bobsleigh team, Ireland’s first and only at the Olympics finished 24th, driven by Peter O’Malley with John O’Donoghue on Breaks and the brothers Joe and Patrick Mullins rounding out the crew.
The Republic of Macedonia sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10–26 February 2006. This was Macedonia's third appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The delegation consisted of three athletes; Ivana Ivčevska and Gjorgi Markovski in alpine skiing, and Darko Damjanovski in cross-country skiing. Their best performance in any event was 40th, by Ivčevska in the women's giant slalom.
The women's slalom was contested on Wednesday, 22 February. Janica Kostelić led in the slalom World Cup with 460 points, and was also defending World and Olympic champion, but she finished 0.15 seconds behind Marlies Schild for the 4th place. Anja Pärson got her first Olympic gold medal.
Andorra sent a delegation to compete at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, United States from 8–24 February 2002. This was Andorra's seventh consecutive appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The Andorran delegation consisted of three alpine skiers; Victor Gómez, Alex Antor, and Vicky Grau. Their best performance in any event was 24th place by Grau in the women's slalom.
Lebanon sent a delegation to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 12–28 February 2010. This was Lebanon's 15th appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The Lebanese team consisted of three alpine skiers. Lebanon has never won a medal at a Winter Olympics, and their best performance in Vancouver was 37th in the women's super-G by Chirine Njeim; Ghassan Achi failed to post a result in either of his races, and Jacky Chamoun finished 54th in her only race.
Azerbaijan sent a delegation to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 12–28 February 2010. This was Azerbaijan's fourth Olympic Winter Games, having appeared in each Winter Games since 1998 in Nagano. The Azerbaijani delegation consisted of two alpine skiers, Gaia Bassani Antivari and Jedrij Notz. The nation's best finish was by Antivari, 57th place in the women's giant slalom.
Uzbekistan sent a delegation to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from 12–28 February 2010. This was the country's fifth appearance in a Winter Olympic Games. The delegation consisted of three athletes: Kseniya Grigoreva and Oleg Shamaev in alpine skiing, and Anastasia Gimazetdinova in figure skating. None of the Uzbekistani competitors won a medal at these Olympics.
Macedonia sent a delegation to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 12 to 28 February 2010. The Macedonian delegation consisted of three athletes, alpine skier Antonio Ristevski and two cross-country skiers, Rosana Kiroska and Darko Damjanovski. The nation's best finish was by Ristevski in the men's giant slalom, where he placed 53rd.
Sanni Maaria Leinonen is a former alpine skier from Finland. She competes for Finland in technical events on the World Cup. She represented Finland at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Her best result was a 30th place in the giant slalom. Her best result on the World Cup was a 7th-place finish in the slalom at Maribor, Slovenia in 2010.
Riitta Ollikka is a Finnish former alpine skier who competed in the 1976 Winter Olympics. Her grandfather was athletic Väinö Eskola. She is married to Reijo Laksola an ice hockey player who also competed at the 1976 Winter Olympics, he was 23 at the time and ranked 4th overall in his category.
The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) sent a delegation to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia from 7–23 February 2014. This marked the return of the Virgin Islands to the Winter Olympics after missing the 2010 edition, and was their sixth time competing at a Winter Olympic Games. The USVI team consisted of one athlete in alpine skiing, Jasmine Campbell. She finished 56th in the giant slalom and 43rd in the slalom.
Thailand competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia from 7 to 23 February 2014. The Thai team consisted of two athletes, Vanessa Vanakorn and Kanes Sucharitakul, both competing in alpine skiing. This was Thailand's third appearance at a Winter Olympic Games, and their first since 2006, having missed the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.