Trude Beiser (born September 2, 1927, in Lech am Arlberg

Lech am Arlberg

Lech am Arlberg is a mountain village and an exclusive ski resort in the Bludenz district of Vorarlberg, in western Austria, on the banks of the river Lech. In terms of both geography and history, Lech belongs to the Tannberg district...

, 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...

) is a former 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...

.

At 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...

, Beiser won the gold medal in the combined

Alpine skiing combined

Combined is an alpine skiing event. Although not technically a discipline of its own, it is sometimes referred to as a fifth alpine discipline, along with downhill, super G, giant slalom, and slalom.-Traditional & Super-Combined:...

 and the silver medal in the downhill

Downhill

Downhill is an alpine skiing discipline. The rules for the Downhill were originally developed by Sir Arnold Lunn for the 1921 British National Ski Championships....

 competition. In 1952

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...

 she became Olympic downhill champion.

Between these two Olympics, Beiser won two medals at the 1950 World Championships

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1950

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1950 were held February 13-18, 1950, on Ajax Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, U.S.A.These were the first World Championships held outside of Europe, and the first official world championships since 1939...

 in Aspen, Colorado

Aspen, Colorado

The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...

; a gold in the downhill and a silver in the giant slalom.

After her racing career, Beiser worked as skiing trainer and opened a café in her home town.