Alberto Tomba
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Alberto Tomba Golden Collar of Sports Merit - Army Gold Cross of Merit (born 19 December 1966) is a former
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
alpine ski racer from Italy. He was the dominant technical skier ( slalom and
giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in Slalom skiing, slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant sl ...
) in the late 1980s and 1990s. At 182 cm and 90 kg, his powerful build was a contrast to the lighter, more traditional technical skiers who prioritised agility over muscle. Tomba was able to take advantage of the introduction of spring-loaded ski gates which replaced the older, solid gates in the early 1980s by using his power to maintain a faster, more direct line through courses. Tomba won three Olympic gold medals, two World Championships, and nine
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
season titles: four in slalom, four in giant slalom, and one overall title. He was popularly called ''Tomba la Bomba'' ("Tomba the Bomb").


Early years

Alberto Tomba was born in
Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
and raised in Castel de Britti, a village in the municipality of
San Lazzaro di Savena San Lazzaro di Savena ( Bolognese: ) is an Italian ''comune'' (municipality) of some 32,000 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. Geography The town is located on the Via Emilia, a major thoroughfare for town traffic ...
– an area without strong alpine traditions, but not far from the appenninic piste of Monte Cimone and Corno alle Scale. His father Franco, a businessman in the textile industry, had been a keen skier since attending college in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
and passed his love of the sport to his sons, driving Alberto and his older brother Marco from their home to Sestola so they could ski. Alberto learned to ski at the age of three and started racing at the age of seven. As a child, he participated in sports like tennis, football, and dirt biking, but he found that his greatest passion was for skiing. Later in life, in 1988, his father Franco promised him a Ferrari if he won a gold medal that year and, as he celebrated his first gold at the bottom of the slope, Alberto told his father and everyone else who was watching on TV that he wanted the car to be red. In 1984 he took part in the Junior World Championships, where a fourth-place finish won him a position on the national B team. That year, in an exhibition parallel slalom competition in San Siro, Milan, he surprised everyone by beating every member of the A team. After three wins on the Europa Cup circuit, Tomba made his
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
debut in December
1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, three days before his nineteenth birthday. Two months later, in
Åre Åre () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpe ...
, Sweden, he surprised the skiing world by finishing sixth from a bib number of 62. His first podium came the following season in Alta Badia, Italy in December 1986, and later that winter he won bronze in the giant slalom at the 1987 World Championships in Crans-Montana, Switzerland - the only medal won by the Italian team at that World Championships.


Rise to fame

On 27 November
1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...
, Tomba scored his first
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
victory, in a slalom at
Sestriere Sestriere (, , , ) is a ski resort in Piedmont, Italy, a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa, from the France, French border. Its name derives from Latin language, Latin: ''ad petram sistrariam ...
, Italy (with starting bib number 25). Two days later he won the giant slalom, beating his idol, Ingemar Stenmark. It was now clear that Tomba was a force to be reckoned with within the alpine skiing world. He went on to win nine races that 1988 season, including a slalom win at Madonna di Campiglio where he beat the second-placed finisher by 1.34 seconds, shouting "I am the new messiah of skiing!" as he crossed the finish line. He won that year's World Cup titles in both slalom and giant slalom, but was runner-up in the overall standings to
Pirmin Zurbriggen Pirmin Zurbriggen (born 4 February 1963) is a former FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer from Switzerland. One of the most successful ski racers ever, he won the overall World Cup title four times, an Alpine skiing ...
of Switzerland. During this early part of his career, Tomba also competed in
super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...
, an event he would continue to contest until
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
, despite never finishing better than fourth. At the
1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the m ...
in
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
, Tomba won gold medals in slalom and giant slalom. In the first run of the GS, he finished an impressive 1.14 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. "Tomba la Bomba" ("Tomba the Bomb"), as he was known, also earned some notoriety by asking out East German figure skater Katarina Witt, whom he met again later on. Tomba was not as successful in the following two seasons, winning a total of four World Cup races. At the 1989 World Championships in Vail, Colorado, he could do no better than sixth place in the super G and seventh in the giant slalom. From 1989 to the end of his career, Tomba was surrounded by his own technical staff managed by former Olympic champion Gustav Thöni and
strength and conditioning coach A strength and conditioning coach (also known as an S&C coach) is a physical performance professional who uses exercise prescription to improve the performance of competitive Athlete, athletes or Sports club, athletic teams. This is achieved throug ...
Giorgio d'Urbano, who worked with him for ten seasons. Tomba was temporarily put out of action in 1990 when he crashed in a World Cup race in
Val-d'Isère Val-d'Isère (, literally ''Valley of Isère (river), Isère'') is a Communes of France, commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie Departments of France, department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region) in southeastern France. It ...
, breaking his collarbone. However, in the
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
season, Tomba returned to his winning ways, winning the giant slalom World Cup title for a second time while finishing fourth in the slalom standings. He ended 4th in slalom at the 1991 World Championships at Saalbach-Hinterglemm (Austria) and crashed in the second giant slalom run after having clocked the fastest time in the first leg, handing the victory to Austria's Rudolf Nierlich, the two-time winner at Vail, Colorado, two years earlier. In September 1991, he also met former Miss Italy, Martina Colombari, whom he dated for several years. Tomba's career reached its second peak during the
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
season with nine victories and fifteen podiums, and he once again captured the season-long discipline titles in both his technical specialties. His duel with Paul Accola for the overall World Cup crown extended until the very end of the season and the Finals at Crans-Montana, but the Swiss skier scoring points in all disciplines including downhill and combined ultimately prevailed. At the
1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile '92''), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and aroun ...
in
Albertville Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...
, France, Tomba won what was to be his last gold medal at
Val d'Isère Val may refer to: Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a Soviet assault rifle Music *''Val'', album by Val Doonican * VAL (band), Belarusian pop duo People * Val (g ...
, in the giant slalom, and picked up a silver in the slalom. In Val d'Isère, he became the first alpine champion to successfully defend an Olympic title when he won the giant slalom ahead of Marc Girardelli. The 1993 World Championships, held in Morioka, Japan, again proved to be his nemesis. Tomba was suffering from a fever during the giant slalom and made a critical mistake in the slalom, failing to reach the podium in either race. To make matters worse, he only managed to win a single World Cup race in the entire
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
season.


Overall World Cup champion

Tomba was back to his usual ways at the
1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...
in
Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...
, Norway. After his slalom run, he was seemingly out of medal contention, (placed 12th) 1.84 seconds behind leader
Thomas Stangassinger Thomas Stangassinger (born 15 September 1965) is an Austrian former alpine skier. Career Throughout the 1990s, he belonged to the international slalom elite. He won a silver medal in the World Ski Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm Saalba ...
(and 1.00 behind place 3, Peter Roth), but in the second run he recovered to second place and won the silver medal. It soon became apparent that the
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
World Cup season would be his best yet. From December 1994 to March 1995, he amassed an impressive 11 victories in the technical events including seven in a row in slalom to finally capture the overall World Cup title that had eluded him in years past and bringing the Crystal Globe back to Italy, twenty years after Gustav Thöni's last title in
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
. At the 1996 World Championships, Tomba finally added the final missing pieces to his trophy case, winning two gold medals at
Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
, Spain. His GS victory came thanks to a second-run rally from 0.81 seconds behind. After the 1996 World Championships, Tomba began contemplating retirement. He decided to come back for one more World Championship, held in
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
on his home snow in
Sestriere Sestriere (, , , ) is a ski resort in Piedmont, Italy, a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa, from the France, French border. Its name derives from Latin language, Latin: ''ad petram sistrariam ...
. He was disqualified in the giant slalom and had a disappointing first run in the slalom, but an excellent second run was good enough for his last major medal, a bronze. He decided to continue competing for one more year. Tomba's performance at the
1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...
in Nagano was a sign that his career was winding to a close: for the first time in his Olympic career, he failed to medal after crashing in giant slalom. He suffered a painful injury and was not able to start in the second slalom run after losing much time in the first leg. Alberto Tomba retired at the end of the
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
season, but not before winning a last World Cup race at the Finals at Crans-Montana where he grabbed the slalom, becoming the only alpine male skier to have won at least one World Cup race per year for 11 consecutive seasons.


Later in life

After retiring from competitions, Tomba made numerous appearances on Italian television broadcasts, and in 2000 he made his acting debut in the
crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
'' Alex l'ariete'', directed by Damiano Damiani; the movie, however, was met with little success and was unanimously panned by movie critics. At the
2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...
Opening Ceremony in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, Tomba brought the Olympic Flame into the stadium where he handed it off to the men's 4 × 10 km gold medalists from the
1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...
in
Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...
(De Zolt, Albarello, Vanzetta, Fauner). During the 2010 edition of " Sport Movies & TV - Milano International FICTS Fest" he was awarded with "Excellence Guirlande D'Honneur" and entered in the FICTS "Hall of Fame".


Medals


Winter Olympic Games

* 1988: gold in
giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in Slalom skiing, slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant sl ...
, gold in slalom at Calgary, Alberta, Canada ( Nakiska). *
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
: gold in giant slalom, silver in slalom at Albertville, France (Val d'Isère). *
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
: silver in slalom at Lillehammer, Norway ( Hafjell).


Alpine World Ski championships

*
1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...
: bronze in giant slalom at Crans Montana, Switzerland. *
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
: gold in giant slalom, gold in slalom at Sierra Nevada, Spain. *
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
: bronze in slalom at Sestriere, Italy


Alpine skiing World Cup

* 50 victories (35 in slalom, 15 in giant slalom), including seven consecutive slalom wins in the 1995 season. * 28-second-place finishes * 11 third-place finishes


World Cup results


Season standings


Season titles

* 9 titles (1 overall, 4 giant slalom, 4 slalom)


Race victories

* 50 wins (15 GS, 35 SL) * 88 podiums (31 GS, 57 SL)


Olympics results


World Championships results


See also

* Ski World Cup Most podiums & Top 10 results * Italy at the Olympics – Men gold medalist * Italian skiers most successful race winner


Honours


Orders

* CONI: Golden Collar of Sports Merit ''Collare d'Oro al Merito Sportivo'' - 1995 *
ARMY An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
: Army Gold Cross of Merit: ''Croce d'Oro al Merito dell'Esercito'' - 1991


References


External links

* * * *
Alberto Tomba's career (victory by victory)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomba, Alberto 1966 births Alpine skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers of Centro Sportivo Carabinieri FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions Italian male alpine skiers Living people Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers for Italy Olympic gold medalists for Italy Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Olympic silver medalists for Italy Recipients of the Olympic Order Sportspeople from Bologna 20th-century Italian sportsmen