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Deborah Compagnoni
	Compagnoni in March 2010
Personal information
Born	4 June 1970 (age 54); Bormio, Italy
Occupation	Alpine skier
Height	165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Skiing career
World Cup debut	1986
Retired	1999
Olympics
Medals	4 (3 gold)
World Championships
Medals	3 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	14
Wins	16
Podiums	44
Overall titles	0 (4th 1998 & 1999)
Discipline titles	1 (Gs 1997)
Medal record
International alpine ski competitions
World Cup race podiums
Olympic Games
World Championships

Deborah Compagnoni (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdɛːbora kompaɲˈɲoːni]; born 4 June 1970^[1]) is an Italian former Alpine skier who won three gold medals at the 1992, 1994, and 1998 Winter Olympics.^[2]

Biography

Deborah Compagnoni was born in Bormio, northern Lombardy, and skied with the G.S. Forestale club.^[2]

Compagnoni soon attracted attention for her great talent. Her career was always marked by major successes, but also by serious accidents.^[3] After her first major victory, the World Junior title in giant slalom, and her first podium in World Cup, she broke her right knee in the Val d'Isère downhill. After surgery, she decided to stop competing in downhill races, where her talent could have permitted even greater successes than those she obtained in her still outstanding career.^[2]

Compagnoni won her first race in the World Cup in 1992. She also won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics of the same year, again in the super-G; however, while racing the giant slalom one day later, she destroyed her left knee.^[2]

In the following years, she left the speed disciplines (downhill and Super-G), confirming herself as one of the best giant slalom specialists. Her fragile knees hindered Compagnoni's practice activity, and limited the number of victories in the World Cup; however, she always arrived in her best shape for the major championships. In 1994, at the Lillehammer Olympics, she won the gold medal in the giant slalom, a feat she repeated four years later in Nagano. In 1998, she won also a silver medal in the Slalom, finishing second by only 0.06 seconds.^[2]

Compagnoni won the World Championship in giant slalom in 1996; in the following year's edition, she repeated the victory, alongside winning with the slalom title, a feat never accomplished by any other Italian female skier. She won a total of 16 races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup (13 giant slalom, 2 super-G, and 1 slalom), plus a giant slalom World Cup in 1997.^[2]

Deborah Compagnoni is considered the best Italian female skier of all time, the equal of famous male champions like Gustav Thöni and Alberto Tomba. The World Cup skiing track in her native Santa Caterina Valfurva has been named after her.^{[citation needed]}

She is married to Alessandro Benetton, and they have three children: Agnese, Tobias, and Luce; they live in Ponzano Veneto, Italy.^[4]^[5] They separated in 2021.^[6] Her brother Jacopo Compagnoni, a fellow Alpine skier, died during an avalanche on Monte Sobretta on 16 December 2021, at the age of 40.^[7]

World Cup results

Season titles

Season	Discipline
1997	Giant slalom

Season standings

Season	Overall		Downhill		Super-G		Giant slalom		Slalom		Combined
Season	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points	Place	Points
1987/88	40.	24	22.	12	17.	12	–	–	–	–	–	–
1988/89	did not participate due to an injury
1989/90	52.	19	–	–	22.	9	24.	10	–	–	–	–
1990/91	57.	12	–	–	–	–	17.	12	–	–	–	–
1991/92	11.	590	–	–	15.	126	4.	344	19.	120	–	–
1992/93	11.	535	–	–	6.	230	8.	200	17.	105	–	–
1993/94	6.	841	–	–	18.	91	3.	515	12.	195	12.	40
1994/95	12.	524	–	–	25.	74	5.	325	14.	125	–	–
1995/96	22.	346	–	–	–	–	6.	280	30.	66	–	–
1996/97	4.	967	–	–	–	–	1.	560	3.	407	–	–
1997/98	4.	912	–	–	–	–	2.	565	6.	304	–	–
1998/99	22.	347	–	–	–	–	9.	256	23.	91	–	–

Races victories

These are her world cup victories.^[8]

Date	Location	Race
26 January 1992	Morzine	Super-G
7 March 1993	Morzine	Super-G
5 December 1993	Tignes	Giant slalom
11 December 1993	Veysonnaz	Giant slalom
5 January 1994	Morzine	Giant slalom
8 January 1995	Haus im Ennstal	Giant slalom
2 March 1996	Narvik	Giant slalom
29 December 1996	Semmering	Slalom
17 January 1997	Zwiesel	Giant slalom
18 January 1997	Zwiesel	Giant slalom
26 January 1997	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Giant slalom
15 March 1997	Vail	Giant slalom
25 October 1997	Tignes	Giant slalom
21 November 1997	Park City	Giant slalom
19 December 1997	Val-d'Isère	Giant slalom
6 January 1998	Bormio	Giant slalom

References

^ "Tanti auguri Deborah Compagnoni, la leggenda dello sci azzurro compie 50 anni" [Happy birthday Deborah Compagnoni, the Italian skiing legend turns 50.]. Sky TG24. 4 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Deborah Compagnoni - Athlete Information". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
^ Shulman, Ken (27 January 1994). "Compagnoni's Bold and Painful Course Toward Super-G Gold". The New York Times.
^ "A life in the day: Alessandro Benetton, retail magnate", The Sunday Times, John Follain, 13 April 2008
^ "Alessandro Benetton: Future Perfect", Elle, Alexandra Marshall, 6 January 2010 Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^ Bambini, Nicola (25 January 2021). "Deborah Compagnoni and Alessandro Benetton, "marriage over" (after 13 years)" [Deborah Compagnoni e Alessandro Benetton, «matrimonio finito» (dopo 13 anni)]. Vanity Fair (in Italian).
^ "Morto Jacopo Compagnoni, il fratello di Deborah travolto da una valanga in Valfurva". La Repubblica. 16 December 2021.
^ Encyclopædia Britannica almanac 2008

External links

Deborah Compagnoni at FIS (alpine)
Deborah Compagnoni at Olympics.com
Deborah Compagnoni at the CONI honored athlete website (in Italian)
Deborah Compagnoni at Olympedia
Deborah Compagnoni at the Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (in Italian)

Awards
Preceded by Fiona May	Italian Sportswoman of the Year 1996-1997-1998	Succeeded by Stefania Belmondo
Winter Olympics
Preceded by Alberto Tomba	Flag bearer for Italy 1994 Lillehammer	Succeeded by Gerda Weissensteiner