Christian Pravda (March 8, 1927 – November 11, 1994) was an alpine ski racer

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

.

He was born in Kufstein

Kufstein

Kufstein is a city in Tyrol, Austria, located along the river Inn, in the lower Inn valley, near the border with Bavaria, Germany, and is the site of a post World War II French sector United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration Displaced Persons camp.Kufstein is the second largest city...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

.

At age 20, he participated in the 1948 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1948 Winter Olympics

At the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the six alpine skiing events were held from Monday, February 2 to Thursday February 5, 1948.After these games, the combined event was dropped as an Olympic medal event for four decades, until 1988...

 in the slalom

Slalom skiing

Slalom is an alpine skiing discipline, involving skiing between poles spaced much closer together than in Giant Slalom, Super-G or Downhill, thereby causing quicker and shorter turns.- Origins :...

, but was disqualified.

At the 1952 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1952 Winter Olympics

At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, the six alpine skiing events were held from Thursday, February 14 to Wednesday, February 20, 1952.The giant slalom made its Olympic debut, and the combined event was dropped as an Olympic medal event for four decades, until 1988...

 in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Pravda won two medals: silver in giant slalom

Giant Slalom skiing

Giant slalom is an alpine skiing discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles spaced at a greater distance to each other than in slalom but less than in super G....

 and a bronze medal in the downhill.

Pravda won the prestigious Hahnenkamm

Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel

The Hahnenkamm is a mountain in Austria, directly south of Kitzbühel, in the Kitzbühel Alps. The elevation of its summit is above sea level.The Hahnenkamm is part of the ski resort of Kitzbühel, and hosts the annual World Cup alpine ski races, the Hahnenkammrennen...

 downhill twice, in 1951 and 1954. He also won the Wengen

Lauberhorn

The Lauberhorn is a mountain in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, located between Wengen and Grindelwald. Its summit is at an elevation of 8110 feet above sea level....

downhill in 1954, the first of only ten racers to win both of these classic downhills in the same year.

External links

• Database Olympics.com - Christian Pravda - profile