Josef "Pepi" Stiegler (born 20 April 1937 in Lienz, Austria) is a former alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. He was a member of the Austrian national ski team during the late 1950s and early 1960s and was one of the world's premier racers. His two children were on the U.S. Ski Team: daughter Resi (b. 1985) was on the World Cup team and son Seppi (b. 1988) was on the Nor-Am circuit.
At the 1960 Winter Olympics of Squaw Valley, Stiegler won a silver medal in the giant slalom and took fifth place in the slalom. At the 1964 Winter Olympics of Innsbruck, he took the bronze medal in giant slalom at Axamer Lizum and then won the gold in slalom, edging out American medalists Billy Kidd and Jimmie Heuga. - He became "Austrian sportsman of the Year 1964".
Pepi Stiegler later made appearances at many ski events in the United States and wrote articles for ski magazines. In 1965 in western Wyoming, he became the first ski school director at Jackson Hole. He served in that capacity for 29 years, followed by eight more as ambassador of skiing, and stepped down in 2002 after 37 years with the resort.
Similar to Heuga, Stiegler was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1993.Wallechinsky, David; Jaime Loucky (2005). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books. Austrian teammate Egon Zimmermann, gold medalist in the 1964 Olympic downhill, also had MS.
At age 66, Stiegler earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from Montana State University in Bozeman in May 2003.
Olympic results Year Age Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 1960 22 5 2 not run 15 not run 1964 26 1 3 — From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
Video You Tube – Stiegler: The Style of A Champion (1974 film)
References
External links
Ski-db.com – results – 1964 Olympics
U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame – Josef Stiegler Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame – Pepi Stielger pepistieglers.com – Pepi Stiegler