Rosa Anna Katharina Mittermaier-Neureuther (; 5 August 1950 – 4 January 2023) was a German alpine skier. She was the overall World Cup champion in 1976 and a double gold medalist at the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label= Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

. Mittermaier competed in alpine skiing from 1967 to 1976, retiring after a highly successful season in which she finished with two

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece be ...

s and ranked first in the World Cup. She remained popular, advertising for sports and as a non-fiction writer. She was known as ''Gold-Rosi'', and she was inducted into Germany's Sports Hall of Fame in April 2006 when it was initiated.

Life and career

Mittermaier was born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

and grew up in

Reit im Winkl Reit im Winkl is a small village (locally known as a snow-magnet ) located on the German/Austrian border in the southeastern part of Bavaria, Germany in the Traunstein district, and was previously an immigration and customs control point (prior ...

on the . Her father had run there the Passauer Hütte. A certified skiing instructor, he also owned a skiing school from 1966, and was the first to train his daughters.

Racing career

Mittermaier made her World Cup debut in the inaugural season of 1967, and won her first World Cup race two seasons later. She won two gold medals ( downhill and

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

) and one silver (

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up th ...

) at the

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...

. Her victory in the Olympic downhill was the only downhill win in her international career. Mittermaier was the most successful athlete at those games, along with cross-country skier

Raisa Smetanina Raisa Petrovna Smetanina (russian: Раиса Петровна Сметанина; born 29 February 1952) is a Soviet and Russian cross-country skiing champion. She is the first woman in history to win ten Winter Olympic medals. Career Smetanina ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, earning her the nickname of ''Gold-Rosi'' within Germany (then

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

). In addition to the overall World Cup title, she also won the season title in

and combined in 1976. After winning both races at Copper Mountain in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

to wrap up the overall and slalom titles, the four-year-old resort immediately named the race course run after her. In addition to her success in international competition, she also won 16 German national titles during her career. On 31 May 1976, she retired from international competition at age 25, following the very successful 1976 season.

After racing

After her career in sports, Mittermaier joined Mark McCormack's

International Management Group IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, events and talent management company headquartered in New York City. It has been owned by Endeavor since 2013. Trans World International (TWI) is an event and pro ...

as the only German alongside Jean-Claude Killy, Jackie Stewart, and

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at ...

. During her three-year contract, she designed a collection of winter sports clothing and made international appearances for various skiing products. She wrote non-fiction books, often together with her husband. She worked for several charities and occasionally as a commentator for German television for major sporting events. She established a charitable foundation to aid children with

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including ar ...

in 2000.

Personal life and death

Mittermaier was born with a twin sister who died at birth. Her younger sister Evi Mittermaier also competed as an alpine skier and previously lived in a hotel. Rosi and Evi also recorded two albums of Bavarian folk songs together. In 1980 she married Christian Neureuther, winner of six World Cup slalom races. They are the parents of

Felix Neureuther Felix Neureuther (; born 26 March 1984) is a German retired World Cup alpine ski racer and former World champion. Early life Born in Munich-Pasing, Neureuther is the son of former World and Olympic champion Rosi Mittermaier and Christian Ne ...

(b. 1984), a World Cup ski racer for Germany, and a daughter Ameli who works as a fashion designer. Mittermaier died in

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the Ob ...

on 4 January 2023, at the age of 72.

Awards

* 1976 German Sportswoman of the Year * 1999 Olympic Order * 2001 Goldene Sportpyramide of the * 2005

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 2006 Germany's Sports Hall of Fame * 2007 Bavarian Order of Merit She was an honorary citizen's of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Reit im Winkl.

World Cup results

Season standings

Source: Points were only awarded for top ten finishes (see scoring system).

Season titles

Race victories

* 10 wins – (1 GS, 8 SL, 1 K) * 41 podiums – (4 DH, 11 GS, 22 SL, 4 K)

World championship results

Source: From

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

through

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

, the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

were also the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

for alpine skiing. At the World Championships from

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).

Olympic results

Source:

Publications

Many of her books were written with her husband Christian Neureuther: * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mittermaier, Rosi 1950 births 2023 deaths German female alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers of West Germany Olympic gold medalists for West Germany Olympic silver medalists for West Germany Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1976 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1972 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1968 Winter Olympics Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions People from Traunstein (district) Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria