Everything about Eugenio Monti totally explained
Eugenio Monti (
January 23,
1928 –
December 1,
2003) was an
Italian bobsledder. He is one of the most successful athletes in the history of this sport, with ten
World championship medals (of which nine gold) and 6
Olympic medals, but is known also for an act of
sportsmanship during the
1964 Winter Olympics in
Innsbruck,
Austria that made him the first athlete ever to receive the
Pierre de Coubertin medal.
Biography
Born in
Dobbiaco,
Italy,
The Flying Redhead was the best Italian young skier: he won the national titles in
slalom and
giant slalom, and finished third in
downhill, but a
1951 accident stopped his
alpine skiing career when he tore ligaments in both of his knees. Monti switched to
bobsleigh, finding great success as a result. In
1954 he won his first Italian championship and in
1957 won his first world championship.
At the
1956 Winter Olympics in
Cortina d'Ampezzo, he won
silver medals in the 2-man and 4-man bobsled events. He couldn't compete in the
1960 Winter Olympics in
Squaw Valley, California, because the bobsled race wasn't held for economic reasons (for the only time in the history of the Winter Olympic Games).
(*Note...the reason that there was no bobsledding in Squaw Valley is that there wasn't a track. The only bobsled track in North American until the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Alberta Canada, was in Lake Placid, New York.)
But it was during the
1964 Winter Olympics in
Innsbruck that Monti performed the most well-known act of his sporting career. Realizing that
British bobsledders
Tony Nash and
Robin Dixon had broken a bolt on their sled, Monti lent them the bolt of his sled. The Britons won the gold medal in the 2-man bobsled, while Monti and his teammate took the
bronze medal. Answering critics from the home press, Monti told them "Nash didn't win because I gave him the bolt. He won because he'd the fastest run." But that wasn't his only act of selfless generosity. In the four-man competition, the
Canadian team of
Vic Emery damaged their sled's axle and would have been disqualified hadn't Monti and his mechanics come to the rescue. The sled was repaired and the Canadian team went on to win the gold medal. For this, he was awarded the
Pierre de Coubertin medal.
Finally, at the
1968 Winter Olympics in
Grenoble,
France, a 40-year-old Monti won a gold in both the two-man and four-man events. After his victory, he received Italy's highest civilian honor – the
Commendatore of the Italian Republic and then retired to labor in his skiing facilities in Cortina.
Suffering from
Parkinson's disease, Monti committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on
December 1,
2003.
Turn 19 at
Cesana Pariol, the site of the
2006 Winter Olympic bobsled,
luge, and
skeleton competitions, was named for Monti. The
bobsleigh track that Monti competed on for years in Cortina was renamed in his honor following his 2003 death.
Victories
- Gold medal in the two-man at the 1968 Winter Olympics
- Gold medal in the four-man at the 1968 Winter Olympics
- Silver medal in the two-man at the 1956 Winter Olympics
- Silver medal in the four-man at the 1956 Winter Olympics
- Bronze medal in the two-man at the 1964 Winter Olympics
- Bronze medal in the four-man at the 1964 Winter Olympics
Gold medal in the two-man in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1966
Gold medal in the four-man in 1960, 1961
Silver medal in the four man in 1957Further Information
Get more info on 'Eugenio Monti'.
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