Eugenio Monti

Nick Name

: N/A

Born

:23 Jan,1928

Age

:91 years, 7 months

Location

:Dobbiaco, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy

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About Eugenio Monti

Eugenio Monti was an Italian bobsledder. He is one of the most successful athletes in the history of this sport, with ten World championship medals (of which nine gold) and 6 Olympic medals including two golds. He is known also for his acts of sportsmanship during the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria that made him the first athlete ever to receive the Pierre de Coubertin medal.

Career Success:

Eugenio Monti won the national titles in slalom and giant slalom, and finished third in downhill, but a 1951 accident stopped his alpine skiing career when he tore ligaments in both of his knees. Monti switched to bobsleigh, finding great success as a result. In 1954 he won his first Italian championship and in 1957 won his first world championship.
At the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, he won silver medals in the 2-man and 4-man bobsled events. He could not compete in the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, because the bobsled race was not held for economic reasons (for the only time in the history of the Winter Olympic Games).
At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, a 40-year-old Monti won a gold in both the two-man and four-man events (the first non-German to do so). After his victory, he received Italy's highest civilian honor – the Commendatore of the Italian Republic and then retired to labor in his skiing facilities in Cortina.
Suffering from Parkinson's disease, Monti committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on December 1, 2003.
Turn 19 at Cesana Pariol, the site of the 2006 Winter Olympic bobsled, luge, and skeleton competitions, was named for Monti. The bobsleigh track that Monti competed on for years in Cortina was renamed in his honor following his 2003 death.