Mourning for the ski legend: “Gold-Rosi” Mittermaier is dead

Status: 05.01.2023 09:50 a.m

With her two gold medals at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, “Gold-Rosi” Mittermaier enchanted the whole of winter sports in Germany. She has now died at the age of 72.

Former ski racer Rosi Mittermaier is dead. She died on Wednesday “after a serious illness” at the age of 72, according to her family.

Mittermaier was born in Munich in 1950. She grew up on the Winklmoosalm above Reit im Winkl, where her parents, who had moved there from Munich in 1938, had a restaurant and a ski school. She learned to ski when she was three years old.

Mittermaier experienced the culmination of her sports career in 1976: in the World Cup she won slalom and combination, she also came third in giant slalom, at the World Championships she won slalom, downhill skiing and combination and came second in giant slalom. At the Olympic Games in Innsbruck, she won gold medals in downhill skiing and slalom, as well as a silver medal in giant slalom.

Successful series of the 1975/1976 season

With the triumphant success series of the 1975/1976 season, she became the most successful skier of all time and was showered with expressions of sympathy. “In the first four weeks after my success at the 1976 Olympic Games, the postman brought 40,000 letters to our home,” she said in an interview about her jump in popularity. At the end of the season, she retired from active competitive sports at the age of 25.

Mittermaier was married to ski racer Christian Neureuther. Her son Felix Neureuther also became one of the most successful German ski racers. He ended his skiing career in 2019.

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