Janica Kostelić (born January 5, 1982 in Zagreb) is a female skier from Croatia. She is the only woman to win four gold medals in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympic Games (in 2002 and 2006), as well as the only woman to win three alpine Olympic gold medals in one year (2002). She was World Cup champion in 2001 and 2003. On January 15 2006 Kostelić became only the third woman in World Cup history (after Swede Pernilla Wiberg and Austrian Petra Kronberger) to win World Cup races in all of the sport's five disciplines. On February 5 2006 Janica became the second female skier (after Petra Kronberger) to win all five disciplines in one season.
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Woman's Alpine Skiing | ||
 |
2002 | Slalom |
|
2002 | Giant slalom |
|
2002 | Alpine combined |
|
2006 | Alpine combined |
 |
2002 | Super-G |
|
2006 | Super-G |
She was born to a winter sport family: her father Ante Kostelić is also her trainer and her older brother Ivica Kostelić is a renowned skier on his own accord.
Career
After coming back from a knee injury in year 2001, she won the Alpine Skiing World Cup that year. In the 2002 Winter Olympics she won three gold medals and a silver in alpine skiing disciplines, the first Winter Olympic medals ever for an athlete from Croatia.
In 2003 she won the World Cup again. In early 2004 she was again taken away from the skiing fields by a knee injury.
She has won altogether 26 races in the World Cup (as of February 5, 2006).
At the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin she won a gold medal in women's alpine combined. That was her fourth Olympic gold medal, making her the most successful female skier in the history of the Olympic Games. This record was set on February 18 2006, only half an hour after Norway's Kjetil André Aamodt, winner of the men's super-G, became the first Alpine skier in men's competition to win four Olympic gold medals.
Results
World Cup victories
26 victories: 18 in Slalom, 5 in Combined, 1 in Giant Slalom, 1 in Super-G i 1 in Downhill
- 1999.:
- 2000.:
- 2001.:
- Slalom : 8 victories (Park City (USA), Aspen (USA), Sestrières x 2 (Italy), Semmering ( Austria), Flachau (Austria), Ofterschwang (Germany), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany))
- 2002.:
- 2003. :
- Slalom : 5 victories (Park City (USA), Lenzerheide (Switzerland), Semmering (Austria), Bormio (Italy), Aare (Sweden))
- Combined : 1 victory (Lenzerheide (Switzerland))
- 2005.:
- Slalom : 1 victory (Aspen ( SAD))
- Combined : 1 victory (San Sicario (Italy))
- Giant Slalom : 1 victory (Spindleruv Mlyn (Czech))
- 2006.:
- Downhill : 1 victory (Bad Kleinkirchheim (Austria))
- Super-G: 1 victory (Bad Kleinkirchheim (Austria))
- Combined: 1 victory (St. Moritz (Switzerland))
- Slalom: 1 victory (Ofterschwang (Germany))
Winter Olympics
- 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano
- Combined 8th
- 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City
- Slalom Gold
- Giant Slalom Gold
- Combined Gold
- Super-G Silver
- 2006 Winter Olympics at Torino
World Championships
External links
- Janica Kostelić official web site
- "The Snow Queen of Croatia" by IOC
- Ski World Cup statistics for Janica
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