Piero Gros

Piero Gros (born October 30, 1954) is an Italian former Alpine Skiing champion who won one gold medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, as well as one Alpine Skiing World Cup in 1974.

Biography

Gros was born at Sauze d'Oulx, in the province of Turin.

He started very early to ski, thanks to Aldo Monaci and Aldo Zulian. At the age of 8 he was for the first time on the podium of local race. Gros made his debut in the Alpine Skiing World Cup in 1972. In that season he won two races in Val d'Isère and Madonna di Campiglio: at 18 y.o. he was the youngest Italian skier ever to obtain a victory in the world cup. Two years later he won the general cup, sharing this result in Italy only with his friend and rival Gustav Thöni, and with Alberto Tomba. In 1974 he won also the bronze medal in the Giant Slalom at the 1974 Alpine Skiing World Championship in St. Moritz.

His most outstanding result was the gold medal in the Slalom race at the 1976 Winter Olympics: he preceded the silver medallist Thöni, in the most successful race ever for Italy at the Winter Olympics. According to Gros, that race was also significant in which he defeated the then almost unbeatable Ingemar Stenmark, to which Gros had been second for six times in that season.

In his career Gros won a total of 12 races in the World Cup, 7 in Giant Slalom and 5 in Slalom. He retreated in 1982, when he was only 28 y.o., after another silver medal at the 1978 Alpine Skiing World Championship, in slalom.

From 1985 to 1990 he was major of the native commune(?) of Sauze d'Oulx. In the meantime he worked as sport commentator for various television stations, including RAI, the Italian State Network.

His son Giorgio is also a skier who took part to several World Cup races.

World Cup victories

External links

* [http://www.ski-db.com/db/profiles/grspi.asp Career profile]