Gerda Weissensteiner

Gerda Weissensteiner

Personal information
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1969-01-03) 3 January 1969 (age 55) Bolzano, Italy
Height	166 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb)
Sport
Country	Italy
Sport	Luge Bobsleigh
Club	G.S. Forestale
Medal record Women's luge Olympic Games 1994 Lillehammer Women's singles World Championships 1989 Winterberg Mixed team 1993 Calgary Women's singles 1989 Winterberg Women's singles 1990 Calgary Mixed team 1995 Lillehammer Mixed team 1991 Winterberg Mixed team 1993 Calgary Mixed team 1995 Lillehammer Women's singles 1996 Altenberg Women's singles 1996 Altenberg Mixed team 1997 Igls Mixed team World Cup 1992-93 Women's singles 1997-98 Women's singles 1988-89 Women's singles 1989-90 Women's singles 1990-91 Women's singles 1995-96 Women's singles European Championships 1994 Königssee Women's singles 1994 Königssee Mixed team 1990 Igls Women's singles 1998 Oberhof Mixed team 1988 Königssee Mixed team 1990 Igls Mixed team 1996 Sigulda Mixed team Women's bobsleigh Olympic Games 2006 Turin Two woman World Cup 2002-03 Two-woman 2003-04 Two-woman European Championships 2006 St. Moritz Two-woman

Gerda Weissensteiner OMRI (born 3 January 1969) 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.^[1]

Luge career

Weissensteiner was introduced to luge by her uncle at the age of seven, initially sledding on natural luge tracks.^[1] She won a World Junior Luge Championship title in 1988.^[2]

Weissensteiner won eleven medals at the FIL World Luge Championships, including two gold (Women's singles: 1993, Mixed team: 1989), three silvers (Women's singles: 1989, Mixed team: 1990, 1995), and six bronzes (Women's singles: 1995, 1996; Mixed team: 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997).

She was also won seven medals at the FIL European Luge Championships with two golds (Mixed team and Women's singles: both in 1994), two silvers (Women's singles: 1990; Mixed team: 1998), and three bronzes (Mixed team: 1988, 1990, 1996).

Weissensteiner won the overall Luge World Cup title in women's singles twice (1992-3, 1997-8). She took a total of 13 wins, eight second places and eight third places in World Cup races. She was also the flagbearer at the opening ceremonies of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. Her Olympic triumph was dampened by the death of her brother in a car accident a few days later: during his funeral, a burglar broke into Weissensteiner's home and stole her gold medal. Following the Games she retired from luge, becoming a youth luge coach.^[1]

Bobsleigh career

Weissensteiner returned to sledding as a bobsleigh pilot in 2001. She finished seventh in the 2-woman bobsleigh (with the former biker Antonella Bellutti, a gold medalist in track cycling) at the 2002 Winter Olympics. After the 2002 Games she teamed up with sprinter Jennifer Isacco, who she competed with until her retirement from the sport.^[1] Their best finish in the Bobsleigh World Cup was third twice in the two-woman event. (2002-3, 2003-4 (tied with Germany's Susi Erdmann)). She finished sixth in the 2-woman bobsleigh event at the 2005 FIBT World Championships in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The following year, Weissensteiner and Isacco finished second in the European Championships,^[2] and Weissensteiner joined Erdmann as being one of only two sledders to win a medal in both bobsleigh and luge at the Winter Olympics.

She retired from all competition after the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. That year she was appointed as a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. In addition she has a rhododendron named after her:^[3] this was part of a collaboration between the Accademia dei Georgofili and the Italian National Olympic Committee to name an azalea after each medal winner at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2006 Winter Paralympics.^[4] Subsequently, she returned to youth coaching in luge as well as working as a press officer for the Italian Luge Federation.^[2]

See also

• List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games
• List of athletes with Olympic medals in different disciplines
• Italian sportswomen multiple medalists at Olympics and World Championships

References

• 1988 luge women's singles results
• 1992 luge women's singles results
• 1998 luge women's singles results
• 2002 bobsleigh two-woman results
• Bobsleigh two-woman Olympic medalists since 2002^{[dead link]}
• Gerda Weissensteiner at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation
• Fuzilogik Sports - Winter Olympic results - Women's luge at the Wayback Machine (archived 2015-06-10)
• Hickoksports.com results on Olympic champions in luge and skeleton. at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-06-30)
• Hickok sports information on World champions in luge and skeleton. at archive.today (archived 2012-12-04)
• Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-07-22) (in Italian)
• List of European luge champions at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-03-25) (in German)
• List of two-woman bobsleigh World Cup champions since 1995 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-11-05)
• List of women's singles luge World Cup champions since 1978. at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-02-06)
• SportQuick.com information on World champions in luge at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-09-27) (in French)

External links

• Gerda Weissensteiner at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)