Club SK Arlberg Retired March 1968 Podiums 0 Height 1.80 m | Seasons 2 – (1967, 1968) Role Olympic athlete Teams 2 – (1964, 1968) Name Egon Zimmermann World cup debut January 1967 | |
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Teams 4 – (1962, '64, '66, '68) (includes two Olympics) Olympic medals Alpine Skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics - Men's Downhill Disciplines Giant slalom, Slalom skiing | ||
Overall titles 0 – (17th in 1967) | ||
Egon zimmermann vs phil mahre cortina dampezzo italy freestyle skiing
Egon Zimmermann (born 8 February 1939), often referred to as Egon Zimmermann II, is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Austria. Zimmermann won the Olympic downhill at Patscherkofel in 1964 and won several medals on the professional tour in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Contents
- Egon zimmermann vs phil mahre cortina dampezzo italy freestyle skiing
- MENS GIANT SLALOM NO SOUND
- Early life
- Career peak and Olympics
- Personal life
- References
He is often confused with Egon N. Zimmermann (19 February 1933 – 27 February 2016) who competed for Austria in the 1958 World Championships and in the 1960 Winter Olympics and was married to Penny Pitou, an Olympic medalist in 1960 with the U.S. Ski Team.
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM - NO SOUND
Early life
Zimmermann was raised on a farm near Lech, Vorarlberg, with two brothers. Lech blossomed into a ski resort while he was growing up, and his family converted their farm house into a pensione. His childhood coincided with the World War II post-war poverty of Austria, so not only did Zimmermann have no formal training, but his skis were often "fourth or fifth-hand." At 15, his father forced him to learn a trade, and he schooled in a Parisian chef program. He returned to Austria by 18 and won a clean sweep of the 1958 Junior Championships. When he was promoted to the National team, Zimmermann commented "For me it was also the realization of a childhood dream, a dream interrupted by a kitchen."
Career peak and Olympics
He won two medals at the 1962 World Championships in Chamonix, a gold in giant slalom and a bronze in downhill. He was named the "Skier of the Year" in 1963 by European journalists.
For the 1964 Olympics in Austria, the "dashing" and "handsome" Zimmermann was heavily favored to win. However, the course at Patscherkofel was quite difficult (nicknamed the "Course of Fear"), but he still managed to win by 0.74 seconds. (Franz Klammer famously won on the same course a dozen years later in 1976.) He did not enter the slalom and did not finish the giant slalom. Despite not sweeping the alpine events like compatriot Toni Sailer in 1956, Zimmermann appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in the United States.
Personal life
Zimmermann is a hotel owner in Lech am Arlberg and suffers from multiple sclerosis. Two other alpine medalists from the 1964 Winter Olympics also developed MS, Jimmie Heuga (1943-2010) and Pepi Stiegler.