Nino Bibbia (15 March 1922 – 28 May 2013) was an Italian

skeleton racer Skeleton is a winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled, known as a skeleton bobsled (or bobsleigh), down a frozen track while lying face down and head-first. The sport and the sled may have been named from the bony appearance o ...

and

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobs ...

der who competed in the late 1940s. Born in Bianzone,

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, he won the gold medal in the men's skeleton event at the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (; ; ; ) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948 (; ), were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the ...

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

. He was

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

's first

Winter Olympic The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held in ...

medalist in any sport, its first gold medalist in the Winter Games, and its first in bobsleigh,

luge A luge () is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds Supine position, supine (face-up) and feet-first. A luger begins seated, propelling themselves initially from handles on either side of the start ramp, then steers by using the Ca ...

, and

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

Biography

Bibbia also competed in

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobslei ...

at those same games, finishing sixth in the four-man and eighth in the two-man event respectively. Bibbia was also involved in other winter sports, including

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

, and

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...

. All told, he earned 231 golds, 97 silvers, and 84 bronzes in his illustrious career. Turn 10 at

Cesana Pariol Cesana Pariol was the venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The track, built for the games, is located in Cesana Torinese. The venue holds approximately 7,130 spectators, of whom 3,624 are se ...

, where the

, and

competitions 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 ...

took place, is named in Bibbia's honor. Bibbia spent the last years of his life in

Engadin The Engadin or Engadine (;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna'' ...

, where he died at the age of 91 on 28 May 2013.

References

Notes

Men's skeleton Olympic medalists since 1928
* Wallechinsky, David (1984). ''The Complete Book of the Olympics: 1896 - 1980''. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 558, 560, 577.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bibbia, Nino 1922 births 2013 deaths Sportspeople from the Province of Sondrio Italian male bobsledders Italian male skeleton racers Olympic bobsledders for Italy Olympic skeleton racers for Italy Olympic gold medalists for Italy Bobsledders at the 1948 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 1948 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in skeleton Medalists at the 1948 Winter Olympics 20th-century Italian sportsmen