Christl Haas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympic medal record
Women's Alpine Skiing
Gold	1964 Innsbruck	Downhill
Bronze	1968 Grenoble	Downhill

Christl Haas, (September 19, 1943 - died July 8, 2001) was an Austrian Alpine skiing Champion at the 1964 Winter Olympics.

Haas was born in at Kitzbühel. In the World Cup she won four downhill competitions in total. At the Alpine skiing World Championship 1962 in Chamonix, France she won gold in the downhill competition.

Haas became a national hero as a twenty year old Olympic champion in the downhill event at the first Innsbruck Winter Olympics. She became an instant superstar in her homeland as she won the gold medal in her home nation. Haas followed up her success at Innsbruck with a bronze medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.

As an Austrian gold medalist, Haas was selected with luger Josef Feistmantl to light the Olympic torch for the opening of the 1976 Winter Olympics on February 4, 1976.

In 2001, Christl Haas drowned while swimming in the Mediterranean Sea at Antalya, Turkey.

Preceded by Günther Zahn Munich 1972

Final Olympic Torchbearer Christl Haas and Josef Feistmantl Innsbruck 1976

Succeeded by Stéphane Préfontaine and Sandra Henderson Montreal 1976