Anton "Tone" Pogačnik (4 January 1919 – June 2013) was a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n cross-country skier who participated in 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 ...

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 ...

. He was born in

Jesenice Jesenice (, ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru'', vol. 6: Kranjsko. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 144.) is the tenth-largest town in Slovenia, located in the traditional province of Upper C ...

. In the Men's 18 km competition, he placed 56th with a time of 1'29:08. He also placed 9th with the Yugoslavian team in the Men's 4 × 10 km relay. On 26 April 1946 Pogačnik fell nearly to his death on

Triglav Triglav (; ; ), with an elevation of , is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. The mountain is the pre-eminent symbol of the Slovene nation, appearing on the Coat of arms of Slovenia, coat of arms and Flag ...

, the highest mountain in Slovenia, after falling down a gap of 96 meters. He survived with no serious internal injuries. After becoming confused and lost in the fog, he had approached a dark section that he believed to be a rock structure, but was actually a drop. He landed on a snowy field between two rocky pillars and became stuck, having to wait several hours before being rescued. The next day, he descended the same route alone. Pogačnik celebrated his 90th birthday in 2009. His wife died in 1999. From the death of Karlo Umek on 25 September 2010, until his own, he was the oldest living Slovenian

Olympic 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 bet ...

athlete. Karel Klančnik died in 2009

References

1919 births 2013 deaths Yugoslav male cross-country skiers Slovenian male cross-country skiers Cross-country skiers at the 1948 Winter Olympics Olympic cross-country skiers for Yugoslavia Skiers from Jesenice, Jesenice {{Slovenia-crosscountry-skiing-bio-stub