Gustav Thöni (Trafoi, South Tyrol, February 28, 1951) was the dominant skier in the technical events (Slalom and Giant Slalom) in the early 1970s. He won seven World Championship medals between 1972 and 1976 (5 golds, two silvers). Thöni won three Olympic medals and a total of four overall World Cup titles in five years in 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1975.
He also won 24 World Cup races (22 in slalom), three Giant Slalom (1970, 1971, and 1972), and two Slalom (1973, and 1974) titles.
He made his World Championship debut at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships held in Val Gardena in 1970, finishing in fourth place in the Slalom.
At the XI Olympic Winter Games held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, Gustav Thöni won two gold medals in the Giant Slalom and the Combined (counted also as World Championship titles) and a silver in the Slalom.
Going into Sapporo 1972, Italy had been without an Olympic gold medal winner in the Alpine Ski events for two decades. In the Giant Slalom, the Italian claimed gold by more than a second to end his country’s 20-year wait for a Winter Olympic title.
Thöni won two golds in the Slalom, and Giant Slalom, at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships held in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Two years later, at the XII Olympic Winter Games celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from February 4 to 15, 1976, Thöni won a gold medal in the Combined and a silver in Slalom.
Occasionally Thöni competed in the Downhill and his best finish in a speed race was in a mythical place, a second place on the Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel, Austria, in January 1975. He lost to the up-and-coming Austrian legend Franz Klammer by just one-hundredth a second. This event inspired the 1981 movie "Un centesimo di Secondo" by Duccio Tessari, which featured Gustav Thöni himself.
Thöni retired from World Cup competition after the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
Later, he was a personal coach to Alberto Tomba (1989–1996). In parallel, he was technical director of the men's national team, and then, until 1999, general manager of both male and female national teams.
Gustav Thöni Statistics
Olympic Winter Games Starts: 7
Olympic Winter Games Medals: 3
Olympic Winter Games Victories: 1
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Starts: 13
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Podiums: 7
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Victories: 5
FIS World Cup Starts: 119
FIS World Cup Podiums: 69
FIS World Cup Victories: 24
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