Simon Lyle Wi Rutene (born 10 March 1966) is an alpine skier from New Zealand. He has competed for New Zealand at four Olympics. [1] [2] He decided to be a ski racer at 12, and went to a U.S. ski resort on his own. At 16 he was sponsored, and did his first downhill run at Wengen, Switzerland.
In the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo, he came 36th in the Giant Slalom.
In the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary, he came 17th in the Slalom. He was the flagbearer at the opening ceremony.
In the 1992 Winter Olympics at Albertville, he came 42nd in the Super G and 28th in the Giant Slalom.
In the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, he came 20th in skiing combined, 23rd in the Downhill Combined and 18th in the Slalom Combined.
Wi Rutene retired from skiing in 1998. [3]
Wi Rutene is an enrolled barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Maori business and a Post Graduate certificate in career counselling psychology.[ citation needed ]
In the 2005 general election he was a list candidate for the Māori Party. [3] He was ranked fourth on the party list. The party gained four MPs at that election, but all from electorate seats and Wi Rutene was not elected.
Jean-Claude Killy is a French former World Cup alpine ski racer. He dominated the sport in the late 1960s, and was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there. He also won the first two World Cup titles, in 1967 and 1968.
Hermann Maier is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. Nicknamed the "Herminator", Maier ranks among the greatest alpine ski racers in history, with four overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals, and three World Championship titles. His 54 World Cup race victories – 24 super-G, 15 downhills, 14 giant slaloms, and 1 combined – rank third on the men's all-time list behind Ingemar Stenmark's 86 victories and Marcel Hirscher's 67 victories. As of 2013, he holds the record for the most points in one season by a male alpine skier, with 2000 points from the 2000 season. From 2000–2013 he also held the title of most points in one season by any alpine skier, until Tina Maze scored 2414 points in the 2013 season.
Franz Klammer is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria. Klammer dominated the downhill event for four consecutive World Cup seasons (1975–78). He was the gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, winning the downhill at Patscherkofel by a margin of 0.33 seconds with a time of 1:45.73. He won 25 World Cup downhills, including four on the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel. He also holds the record for the most victories (four) on the full course at Kitzbühel.
Samuel Bode Miller is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist, a two-time overall World Cup champion in 2005 and 2008, and the most successful male American alpine ski racer of all time. He is also considered one of the greatest World Cup racers of all time with 33 race victories and being one of five men to win World Cup events in all five disciplines. He is the only skier with five or more victories in each discipline. In 2008, Miller and Lindsey Vonn won the overall World Cup titles for the first U.S. sweep in 25 years.
Phillip Ferdinand Mahre is a former World Cup alpine ski racer, widely regarded as one of the greatest American skiers of all time. Mahre competed on the World Cup circuit from 1976 to 1984. Starting with the 1978 season, Mahre finished in the top three in the World Cup overall standings for six consecutive seasons, winning the title in the final three. His total of 27 World Cup race wins is fourth among Americans, only behind Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn, and Bode Miller.
Theodore Sharp Ligety is a retired American alpine ski racer, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and an entrepreneur, having cofounded Shred Optics. Ligety won the combined event at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and the giant slalom race at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. He is also a five-time World Cup champion in giant slalom. Ligety won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships. He successfully defended his world title in giant slalom in 2013 in Schladming, Austria, where he also won an unexpected gold medal in the super-G and a third gold medal in the super combined.
Gustav Thöni is an Italian retired alpine ski racer.
Karl Schranz is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria, one of the best of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Franck Piccard is a French former Alpine skier. A native of Les Saisies, Piccard won a total of four Alpine Skiing World Cup races. At the 1988 Olympics in Calgary he won a gold medal in the Super-G competition and a bronze medal in the downhill. At the 1992 Olympics in Albertville he won a silver medal in the downhill. He also could achieve a bronze-medal in the Super-G-Race at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships 1991.
Zeno Colò was a champion alpine ski racer from Italy. Born in Cutigliano, Tuscany, he was among the top ski racers of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Luxembourg sent a delegation to compete at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France from 8 to 23 February 1992. This marked Luxembourg's fourth appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The Luxembourgian delegation in Albertville consisted of a single athlete, alpine skier Marc Girardelli. He won two silver medals at these Olympics, which positioned Luxembourg 17th place on the medal table.
Henri Jean Auguste Oreiller was an alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from France. He won two gold medals and a bronze at the 1948 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete those Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Guy Périllat Merceroz is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the resort of La Clusaz, Haute-Savoie, one of the top ski racers of the 1960s.
Carlo Janka is a Swiss former alpine ski racer. Born in Obersaxen, in the canton of Graubünden, he had the winter sports facilities right in front of his home. Janka has won gold medals at both the Winter Olympics and the World Championships, as well as one World Cup overall title, one discipline title and also, one unofficial alpine combined title.
Chiharu Igaya, is a former Olympic alpine ski racer and silver medalist from Japan. He competed in three Winter Olympics.
Melissa Perrine is a B2 classified visually impaired para-alpine skier from Australia. She has competed at the four Winter Paralympics from 2010 to 2022. At the 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships, she won three gold, one silver and one bronze medals. At the 2018 Winter Paralympics, she won two bronze medals.
Mitchell Gourley is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier who competed for Australia in the downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined events at four Winter Paralympics - 2010 to 2022. He was Australian team co-captain with Joany Badenhorst at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. At the 2022 Winter Paralympics, he and Melissa Perrine carried the Australian flag in the opening ceremony. At the 2017 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Tarvisio, Italy he won the gold medal in the men's Super Combined Standing.
Andy Bor is an Australian former ski coach and sighted guide for visually impaired skiers. He was a coach at the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Torino, and was Melissa Perrine's guide skier at the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver and 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi.
Alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held from 12 to 24 February at Yongpyong Alpine Centre at the Alpensia Sports Park in PyeongChang and at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre in Jeongseon, South Korea.
Alice Robinson is a New Zealand World Cup alpine ski racer. At age sixteen, she competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics, in giant slalom and slalom. She represented New Zealand in the giant slalom event at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.