Manuela Di Centa

Manuela Di Centa, born on 31 January 1963 in Paluzza in the province of Udine, is an Italian former cross-country skier who came from a family of Nordic skiers and made her national team debut in 1980 at the age of 17. Her breakthrough came at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, where she medaled in all five cross-country events, with two gold, two silver and one bronze medal. She won the overall World Cup in 1994 and again in 1996, and in 1996 she became the first Italian cross-country skier to receive the Holmenkollen Medal. After retiring she worked for Italian television and became a member of the Italian and International Olympic Committees, and in 2003 she became the first Italian woman to climb Mount Everest with supplementary oxygen. Her younger brother Giorgio won two gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics.