Personal information | |
---|---|
Birth name | Rosa Anna Katharina Mittermaier |
Born | Munich, Bavaria, West Germany | 5 August 1950
Died | 4 January 2023 72) Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany | (aged
Occupation | Alpine skier |
Height | 1.59 m (5 ft 3 in) |
Skiing career | |
Disciplines | Downhill, giant slalom, slalom, combined |
World Cup debut | 1 February 1967 (age 16) |
Retired | 31 May 1976 (age 25) |
Website | www |
Olympics | |
Teams | 3 – (1968, 1972, 1976) |
Medals | 3 (2 gold) |
World Championships | |
Teams | 5 – (1968–76) [a] |
Medals | 4 (3 gold) |
World Cup | |
Seasons | 10 – (1967–1976) |
Wins | 10 – (1 GS, 8 SL, 1 K) |
Podiums | 41 – (4 DH, 11 GS, 22 SL, 4 K) |
Overall titles | 1 – (1976) |
Discipline titles | 2 – (SL & K in 1976) |
Medal record |
Rosa Anna Katharina Mittermaier-Neureuther (German: [ˈʁoziˈmɪtɐˌmaɪ̯ɐ] ⓘ ; née Mittermaier; 5 August 1950 – 4 January 2023) was a German alpine skier. She was the overall World Cup champion in 1976 and a double gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics. [1]
Mittermaier competed in alpine skiing from 1967 to 1976, retiring after a highly successful season in which she finished with two Olympic gold medals and ranked first in the World Cup. She remained popular, advertising for sports and as a non-fiction writer. She was known as Gold-Rosi, and she was inducted into Germany's Sports Hall of Fame in April 2006 when it was initiated.
Mittermaier was born in Munich [2] and grew up in Reit im Winkl on the Winklmoos-Alm . [3] Her father had run there the Passauer Hütte. [4] A certified skiing instructor, he also owned a skiing school from 1966, [5] and was the first to train his daughters. [6]
Mittermaier made her World Cup debut in the inaugural season of 1967, [7] and won her first World Cup race two seasons later. [8]
She won two gold medals (downhill and slalom) [9] and one silver (giant slalom) at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. [10] [11] Her victory in the Olympic downhill was the only downhill win in her international career. [12] Mittermaier was the most successful athlete at those games, along with cross-country skier Raisa Smetanina of the Soviet Union, earning her the nickname of Gold-Rosi within Germany (then West Germany). [13]
In addition to the overall World Cup title, she also won the season title in slalom and combined in 1976. After winning both races at Copper Mountain in Colorado to wrap up the overall and slalom titles, [14] the four-year-old resort immediately named the race course run after her. [15] [16] In addition to her success in international competition, she also won 16 German national titles during her career. [17]
On 31 May 1976, she retired from international competition at age 25, following the very successful 1976 season. [18] [19] [20]
After her career in sports, Mittermaier joined Mark McCormack's International Management Group as the only German alongside Jean-Claude Killy, Jackie Stewart, and Björn Borg. [21] During her three-year contract, she designed a collection of winter sports clothing and made international appearances for various skiing products. [22] She wrote non-fiction books, often together with her husband. [19] She worked for several charities and occasionally as a commentator for German television for major sporting events. She established a charitable foundation to aid children with rheumatism in 2000. [17] [19]
Mittermaier was born with a twin sister who died at birth. Her younger sister Evi Mittermaier also competed as an alpine skier and previously lived in a hotel. [17] Rosi and Evi also recorded two albums of Bavarian folk songs together. [17]
In 1980 she married Christian Neureuther, winner of six World Cup slalom races. [23] They are the parents of Felix Neureuther (b. 1984), a World Cup ski racer for Germany, [24] and a daughter Ameli who works as a fashion designer. [25]
Mittermaier died because of cancer in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on 4 January 2023, at the age of 72 years. [3] [26] [27] Her mortal remains were cremated and the urn was buried at the cemetery of Garmisch. Next to her gravestone - a rock, which bears the inscription "Rosi Mittermaier-Neureuther" and resembles a mountain - is a similar one without inscription, which is obviously reserved for her husband.
She was an honorary citizen's of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Reit im Winkl. [19]
Source: [29]
Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant slalom | Super G | Downhill | Combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1967 | 16 | 27 | 19 | — | not run | — | not awarded |
1968 | 17 | 12 | 11 | 8 | — | ||
1969 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 5 | ||
1970 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 12 | ||
1971 | 20 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 15 | ||
1972 | 21 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 10 | ||
1973 | 22 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 9 | ||
1974 | 23 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 11 | ||
1975 | 24 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 6 | ||
1976 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
Points were only awarded for top ten finishes (see scoring system).
Season | Discipline |
---|---|
1976 | Overall |
Slalom | |
Combined |
Season | Date | Location | Discipline |
---|---|---|---|
1969 | 16 January 1969 | Schruns, Austria | Slalom |
1970 | 14 March 1970 | Voss, Norway | Slalom |
1973 | 2 February 1973 | Schruns, Austria | Slalom |
1974 | 27 February 1974 | Abetone, Italy | Slalom |
8 March 1974 | Vysoké Tatry, Czechoslovakia | Slalom | |
1975 | 13 December 1974 [30] | Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy | Slalom |
1976 | 17 December 1975 | Combined | |
22 January 1976 | Bad Gastein, Austria | Slalom | |
5 March 1976 | Copper Mountain, United States | Giant slalom | |
6 March 1976 | Slalom |
Source: [29]
Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom | Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1968 | 17 | DNF2 | 20 | not run | 25 | — |
1970 | 19 | 15 | 7 | 20 | 5 | |
1972 | 21 | 17 | 12 | 6 | 7 | |
1974 | 23 | 6 | DNF | DNF | — | |
1976 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).
Source: [12]
Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom | Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1968 | 17 | DNF2 | 20 | not run | 25 | not run |
1972 | 21 | 17 | 12 | 6 | ||
1976 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Many of her books were written with her husband Christian Neureuther: [19]
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Garmisch-Partenkirchen is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region, which borders Austria. Nearby is Germany's highest mountain, Zugspitze, at 2,962 metres (9,718 ft) above sea level.
Antje Vollmer was a German Protestant theologian, academic teacher and politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. She became a member of the Bundestag in 1983 when the Greens first entered the West German parliament, before joining the party in 1985. From 1994 to 2005, she was Vice President of the Bundestag, the first Green in the position. She was a pacifist.
Hans Magnus Enzensberger was a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Andreas Thalmayr, Elisabeth Ambras, Linda Quilt and Giorgio Pellizzi. Enzensberger was regarded as one of the literary founding figures of the Federal Republic of Germany and wrote more than 70 books, with works translated into 40 languages. He was one of the leading authors in Group 47, and influenced the 1968 West German student movement. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize and the Pour le Mérite, among many others.
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