| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Iginia Boccalandro Valentina |
| Born | February 14, 1961 (age 63) Caracas, Distrito Capital, Venezuela |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Venezuela |
| Sport | Luge |
Iginia Boccalandro Valentina (born February 14, 1961, in Caracas, Distrito Capital) is a Venezuelan Olympic athlete. [1]
She was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but trained in Salt Lake City in the United States. She was a volleyball player and downhill skier in Venezuela before switching careers due to chronic knee problems. In 1994, she joined a developmental luge program sponsored by the United States luge association. She took part in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics, finishing 28th in luge at Nagano. [2] Boccalandro was the first Venezuelan to participate in the Winter Olympics.
In 2002, during the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, she carried the Venezuelan flag in opening ceremonies. At the end of her first descent she lost control of her sled, having a serious accident. In one of the last curves she lost her balance and was separated from her sled. She hit both sides of the lane a number of times, but was unharmed (although she received a DNF). [3] The accident raised questions about whether athletes from warmer climates should be allowed to participate in the Olympics under their diversity policy, highlighting the lack of training and experience that could prove a danger to safety.
A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face-up) and feet-first. A luger begins seated, propelling themselves initially from handles on either side of the start ramp, then steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the pod. Racing sleds weigh 21–25 kg (46–55 lb) for singles and 25–30 kg (55–66 lb) for doubles. Luge is also the name of an Olympic sport that employs that sled and technique.
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVIII Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Nagano 1998, was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events taking place in the nearby mountain communities of Hakuba, Karuizawa, Nozawa Onsen, and Yamanouchi. The city of Nagano had previously been a candidate to host the 1940 Winter Olympics, as well as the 1972 Winter Olympics, but had been eliminated at the national level by Sapporo on both occasions.
Venezuela sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10 to 26 February 2006. This was the third time Venezuela had competed at a Winter Olympic Games. The Venezuelan delegation consisted of one luge athlete, Werner Hoeger. He finished 32nd in his only event, the men's singles.
Julianne “Anne” Abernathy is a luge and archery athlete from the United States Virgin Islands and is the oldest female athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics. The 2006 Winter Olympics were her sixth. Despite her age, she is a strong competitor with numerous international podium finishes, and she is consistently ranked in the top 20 world rankings. She is known within luge circles as "Grandma Luge." She is training for the 2024 Summer Olympics as an archer.
Mārtiņš Rubenis is a retired Latvian luger who competed between 1998 and 2014. He won the bronze medal at the men's singles event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, becoming the first Latvian to win a medal at the Winter Olympics and the only one fr He won his second bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in the Team Relay event. In total he competed in five Olympics.
Gerda Weissensteiner OMRI is an Italian luger and bobsleigh pilot who competed from the late 1980s to 2006. Competing in six Winter Olympics, she won the gold medal in the women's singles luge event at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, and together with Jennifer Isacco she won the bronze in Turin in the two-woman bobsleigh at the 2006 Winter Olympics. She was the first Italian sportsperson to win Olympic medals in two disciplines.
Werner Walter Karl Hoeger is a former luge athlete who competed for Venezuela at the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2006 Winter Olympics. His son is Chris Hoeger. He is a professor emeritus (active) of exercise science at Boise State University and author of nine different "fitness & wellness" textbooks. He has written a total of 68 editions of these books. He is one of the most widely read fitness and wellness college authors in the United States. He was the first author to write a college-level fitness book to incorporate the wellness concept with the publication of Lifetime Physical Fitness & Wellness: A Personalized Program in 1986. His title Fitness & Wellness is a concise book for introductory courses and for the general public that provides the necessary guidelines to enhance health and quality of life through a comprehensive fitness and wellness program. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and also of the Research Consortium of AAHPERD. A gymnast in his youth, he later took up the sport of luge and participated in two Olympic Winter Games. Following his Olympic participation he turned his attention to racing in track and field, competing in three World Masters Track and Field Championships.
Silke Kraushaar-Pielach is a German luger who competed from 1995 to 2008. In June 2008, she was named sports manager for the luge section of Bob- und Schlittenverband für Deutschland.
Cameron "Cammy" Myler is an American luge athlete who was a member of the U.S. National Luge Team from 1985 to 1998 and competed on four Winter Olympics teams.
Bermuda sent a delegation to compete at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, United States from 8–24 February 2002. This was Bermuda's fourth appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The delegation consisted of a single competitor, luge racer Patrick Singleton. This was his second Olympics, and he finished his event in 37th place.
Venezuela sent a delegation to compete in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan from 7–22 February 1998. The delegation consisted of a single luge competitor, Iginia Boccalandro. In the women's singles she came in 28th place out of 29 competitors.
Günther Lemmerer was an Austrian luger who competed in the early 1980s. He won the gold medal in the men's doubles event at the 1982 FIL European Luge Championships in Winterberg, West Germany.
Bonny Warner is an American luger who competed from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. She later competed in women's bobsleigh from 1999 to 2002. She was a pilot for United Airlines from 1990 to 2004, when she quit United and went to work for JetBlue Airways. In December 2020 she left Jet Blue and went to work for Joby Aviation as the Head of Air Operations and People.
Shiva Keshavan, is a six-time Olympian and the first Indian representative to compete in luge at the Winter Olympic Games. He set a new Asian speed record at 134.3 km/h (83.5 mph) after beating the previous record of 131.9 km/h (82.0 mph) and won a gold medal in the 2011 Asian Luge Cup at Nagano in Japan.
Venezuela first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then. Venezuela has also participated in the Winter Olympic Games since 1998. The Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV) was created in 1935.
The Utah Olympic Park Track is a bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in the United States, located in the Utah Olympic Park near Park City, Utah. During the 2002 Winter Olympics in nearby Salt Lake City, the track hosted the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events. Today the track still serves as a training center for Olympic and development level athletes and hosts numerous local and international competitions. It is one of two national tracks; the other is at Mt. Van Hoevenberg near Lake Placid, New York.
Karine Ruby was a French snowboarder and Olympic champion. She won two medals at the Winter Olympics, with a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. She also earned six gold medals and four silver medals at the FIS Snowboard World Championships, and 67 wins and 122 podiums at the FIS Snowboard World Cup, which earned her the description by The New York Times as "the most decorated female snowboarder in the world".
The luge competition events of the 2010 Winter Olympics were held between 13 and 17 February 2010 at the Whistler Sliding Centre in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.
Bethany Calcaterra-McMahon is an American former luger. She competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics and the 1998 Winter Olympics. Despite success at a junior and senior level, Calcaterra-McMahon is chiefly remembered for being in an on-track accident when she was 19, involving a coach from the German team.
The closing ceremony of the 1998 Winter Olympics took place at Nagano Olympic Stadium, Nagano, Japan, on 22 February 1998. It began at 18:00 JST and finished at approximately 19:41 JST. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combines the formal and ceremonial closing of this international sporting event, including farewell speeches and closing of the Games by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. The Olympic flame has been extinguished.