Gustav Thöni

Gustav Thöni, born on 28 February 1951 in the hamlet of Trafoi in South Tyrol, is an Italian retired World Cup alpine ski racer ranked among the greatest Italian skiers ever. He won three Olympic medals and four overall World Cup titles in five years in the early 1970s, taking the overall title in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975, and he was the dominant skier in slalom and giant slalom. In 1974 he won world titles in giant slalom and slalom, and in January 1975 he lost the Kitzbühel downhill to Franz Klammer by one hundredth of a second, a race that inspired the 1981 film Un centesimo di secondo. He retired in March 1980, a month after finishing eighth in the slalom at the Lake Placid Olympics.