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Hanni Wenzel

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Hanni Wenzel
Personal information
Born (1956-12-14) 14 December 1956 (age 68)
Straubing, Bavaria,
West Germany
OccupationAlpine skier
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Skiing career
DisciplinesGiant slalom, slalom, combined, downhill, super-G
World Cup debut1 March 1972 (age 15)
RetiredMarch 1984 (age 27)
Websitewwp-group.com
Olympics
Teams2 – (1976, 1980)
Medals4 (2 gold)
World Championships
Teams5 – (1974–82)
includes two Olympics
Medals9 (4 gold)
World Cup
Seasons13 – (1972–84)
Wins33
Podiums89
Overall titles2 – (1978, 1980)
Discipline titles5 – (2 GS, 1 SL, 2 K)
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing  Liechtenstein
World Cup race podiums
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Slalom 11 11 10
Giant slalom 12 9 9
Downhill 2 0 3
Super-G 0 1 0
Combined 8 4 9
Total 33 25 31
International competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 1 1
World Championships 4 3 2
Total 6 4 3
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1980 Lake Placid Giant slalom
Gold medal – first place 1980 Lake Placid Slalom
Silver medal – second place 1980 Lake Placid Downhill
Bronze medal – third place 1976 Innsbruck Slalom
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1974 St. Moritz Slalom
Gold medal – first place 1980 Lake Placid Combined
Silver medal – second place 1974 St. Moritz Combined
Silver medal – second place 1978 Garmisch Combined
Bronze medal – third place 1976 Innsbruck Combined

Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel[1] (born 14 December 1956) is a retired Liechtensteiner alpine ski racer. Wenzel is a former Olympic, World Cup, and world champion. She won Liechtenstein's first-ever Olympic medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and its first two Olympic gold medals four years later in Lake Placid, New York.[2][3][4]

Biography

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Born in West Germany at Straubing, Bavaria, Wenzel moved to Liechtenstein at an early age. After she and her younger brother Andreas had success in ski racing – Hanni won the gold medal in slalom and silver in the combined at the 1974 World Championships – the family was granted Liechtenstein citizenship. Winning the slalom title on 8 February 1974, she did become the youngest female Alpine Skiing World Champion in the slalom discipline (17 years, 1 month, 25 days) - ousting Esme Mackinnon who was the first female Alpine Skiing Champion in 1931; the British racer was 17 years, 2 month and 17 days young when she was victorious in the slalom race on 19 February 1931. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, she won the country's first Olympic medal, a bronze in the slalom at Axamer Lizum, and also picked up another world championship medal in the combined.

After winning the World Cup overall title in 1978, Wenzel's best year came in 1980. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, she won gold medals in the slalom and giant slalom, and just missed out on a sweep by taking the silver in the downhill at Whiteface Mountain. She also easily won the world championship gold medal in the combined event, its final edition as a "paper race" and her fourth world championship medal in that event. At the same Olympics, her brother also won a silver medal, placing Liechtenstein high in the medal ranking of the games. In addition to her Olympic success, she won nine World Cup races in 1980 and captured the overall, giant slalom, and combined season titles, and brother Andreas won the men's overall for a Wenzel family sweep of the overall titles. Her daughter Tina Weirather won a bronze medal in Super-G for Liechtenstein at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Wenzel was banned from the 1984 Winter Olympics by the International Ski Federation (FIS) for accepting promotional payments directly, rather than through the national ski federation. Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden was also banned; both were double gold medalists in 1980.[5][6][7]

Wenzel retired following the 1984 season with two Olympic titles, four World titles, two overall World Cups, three discipline World Cups plus three combined titles, and 33 World Cup victories. (Through 1980, the Olympics were also the World Championships.)

Through the 2018 Winter Olympics, Liechtenstein has won a total of ten medals at the Winter Olympics, with eight won by two sets of siblings – the Wenzels earned six, while brothers Willi and Paul Frommelt are responsible for two more.

World cup results

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Season titles

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7 titles – (2 overall, 2 giant slalom, 1 slalom, 2 combined)

Season Discipline
1974 Giant slalom
1978 Overall
Slalom
1980 Overall
Giant slalom
Combined
1983 Combined

Season standings

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Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
slalom		 Super G Downhill Combined
1972 15 40 — 27 not
run 		— not
awarded
1973 16 5 6 3 18
1974 17 3 4 1 16
1975 18 2 2 5 12
1976 19 9 9 13 16 6
1977 20 5 5 8 11 not
awarded
1978 21 1 1 2 15
1979 22 2 5 2 10
1980 23 1 2 1 3 1
1981 24 3 6 3 9 2
1982 25 19 9 14 — —
1983 26 2 4 5 not
awarded 		— 1
1984 27 2 7 5 3 4

Race victories

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  • 33 wins – (11 SL, 12 GS, 2 DH, 8 K)
  • 89 podiums
Season Date Location Discipline
1974 19 Dec 1973 Austria Zell am See, Austria Giant slalom
1975 21 Feb 1975 Japan Naeba, Japan Slalom
14 Mar 1975 United States Sun Valley, USA Slalom
1977 19 Jan 1977 Austria Schruns, Austria Combined
1978 15 Dec 1977 Italy Madonna di Campiglio, Italy Giant slalom
10 Jan 1978  Switzerland  Les Mosses, Switzerland Giant slalom
22 Jan 1978 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Maribor, Yugoslavia Slalom
24 Jan 1978 West Germany Berchtesgaden, West Germany Slalom
25 Jan 1978 Slalom
2 Mar 1978 United States Stratton Mountain, USA Giant slalom
1979 12 Dec 1978 Italy Piancavallo, Italy Giant slalom
3 Feb 1979 West Germany Pfronten, West Germany Slalom
4 Feb 1979 Combined
8 Feb 1979 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Maribor, Yugoslavia Slalom
1980 8 Dec 1979 Italy Limone Piemonte, Italy Giant slalom
14 Dec 1979 Combined
10 Jan 1980 West Germany Berchtesgaden, West Germany Giant slalom
16 Jan 1980  Switzerland  Arosa, Switzerland Giant slalom
21 Jan 1980 Austria Bad Gastein, Austria Slalom
Combined
23 Jan 1980 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Maribor, Yugoslavia Slalom
26 Jan 1980 France Saint-Gervais, France Giant slalom
United States 1980 Winter Olympics
25 Feb 1980 United States Waterville Valley, USA Giant slalom
1981 27 Jan 1981 France Les Gets, France Combined
8 Feb 1981 West Germany Zwiesel, West Germany Combined
1982 12 Dec 1981 Italy Piancavallo, Italy Combined
18 Mar 1982 Japan Furano, Japan Giant slalom
1983 30 Jan 1983  Switzerland  Les Diablerets, Switzerland Combined
1984 21 Dec 1983 Austria Haus im Ennstal, Austria Downhill
22 Dec 1983 Giant slalom
14 Jan 1984 Austria Bad Gastein, Austria Downhill
15 Jan 1984 Combined
20 Mar 1984 West Germany Zwiesel, West Germany Slalom

World Championship results

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  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
1974 17 1 7 not run 13 2
1976 19 3 20 11 3
1978 21 6 5 29 2
1980 23 1 1 2 1
1982 25 DNF DNF — —

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).

Olympic results

[edit]
  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
1976 19 3 20 not run 11 not run
1980 23 1 1 2
1984 27 — — —
  • Wenzel and Ingemar Stenmark were banned from the 1984 Olympics (endorsement compensation).

Family

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Wenzel is a sister of World Cup ski racers Petra Wenzel and Andreas Wenzel, and the wife of Austrian ski racer Harti Weirather, the world champion in downhill in 1982. Wenzel and Weirather run their own sports marketing agency, and their daughter Tina Weirather is also a World Cup ski racer.[4][8]

Honours

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Alpine skiing: Weirather to miss Olympic Games through injury". Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). vancouver2010.com. 23 January 2010
  2. ^ Steamboat Today: Olympic history: Winter games in the 1980s. steamboatpilot.com/ 13 February 2010
  3. ^ Hanni Wenzel Archived 28 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine. The official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games]
  4. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hanni Wenzel". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 27 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Ski stars banned from Olympics". Ottawa Citizen. Reuters. 26 November 1983. p. 71.
  6. ^ "Ruling slaps Stenmark". Bend (OR) Bulletin. UPI. 7 November 1983. p. D-4.
  7. ^ "Winter Olympics will take place without three alpine skiers". Palm Beach Post. wire services. 25 January 1984. p. D4.
  8. ^ "Hanni WENZEL". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). fisalpine.com
[edit]
Preceded by United Press International
Athlete of the Year
1980 		Succeeded by
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