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NAGANO 1998/ALPINE SKIING | FEBRUARY 9, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 6 |
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Tender or Tough--Both Are Winners By ROD USHER
Whatever the disparities in their personalities, Compagnoni and Seizinger have something very much in common: they are two of the best ever to put boots into bindings. Their records contain a lode of medals, most of them dark yellow. Compagnoni's cache includes two Olympic golds, three world championships and a World Cup title. Seizinger's is similarly rich: at the beginning of this season she won six straight World Cup races, a feat matched only by Jean-Claude Killy. In '94 she won Olympic gold in downhill at Lillehammer, and in 1996 became the first German in 20 years to win the overall World Cup title. While Seizinger's specialties are the downhill and super-G and Compagnoni's the giant slalom, the two super-skiers share the fact that their winning days may be numbered. Nagano will be the last Olympics for the 27-year-old Italian, who is looking to a future involving "a family and something different from just races, skis and slopes." That something different in her future may be Alessandro Benetton, son of the founder of the clothing group, whose name is linked with Compagnoni's in the Italian press. Compagnoni is eager to be victorious in her last hurrah. "It would be nice to win in Nagano," she says. "I was very young when I won my first medal and I had very little experience. This time winning would be different." Compagnoni was born in an Alpine village just a few kilometers from Switzerland. Her father was a ski instructor and her uncle was on the Italian national team. Her own World Cup debut 10 years ago was nearly her exit as well. She fell in the giant slalom, badly injuring her right knee. It was a long road back up the mountain, but worth it. In Albertville in 1992 she surprised everyone by winning the super-G event. Two days later she fell dramatically in the giant slalom. Her anguished cry as the ligament in her left knee snapped was heard around the world. Compagnoni now concentrates on the slaloms, where strength counts less than technique. Last year she won both slaloms in the world championships, plus the giant slalom in the World Cup. On Jan. 25 she managed only a disappointing fifth in the giant slalom at Cortina d'Ampezzo, in northern Italy, but every Italian is hoping that she was saving her best for last and a gold in Nagano. Katja Seizinger has similarly high expectations from Germany's fans--and from herself. She is tightly focused. Nothing gets in the way of skiing. At the end of the 1995-6 season when she was asked about the $432,500 she'd won for the year, she replied dismissively: "I don't have time for money and things like that." Seizinger, who is learning to be a little less abrupt with the media, may still be hungry enough for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. But four years is a long time in skiing, and Nagano is now. "She's the top favorite," enthuses Werner Starz, of Eurosport TV in Munich. "She has discipline, psychological toughness and an unconditional will to win." And as if she needed more than that, she is also blessed with a first name--Katja--that in English sounds a lot like: Catch Her! --Reported by Martin Penner /Rome and Ursula Sautter /Bonn |
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eborah Compagnoni and Katja Seizinger appear to be about as
different as chalk and skis. Debby, as she is known to her
Italian family and friends, is portrayed by the media as a
cuddly country girl of simple tastes and sunny disposition.
Germany's Seizinger, the 26-year-old daughter of a steel
magnate, is depicted by her country's newspapers as, well,
somewhat steely or, as Die Woche once labelled her, "difficult,"
"stand-offish," and "unapproachable."