Up for auction "Olympic Ski Champion" Hanni Wenzel Hand Signed 3X5 Card. This item is

certified authentic by Todd Mueller and comes with their Certificate of

Authenticity. 

ES-8320

Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel (born 14 December 1956) is a former alpine ski

racer from Liechtenstein, an Olympic, World Cup, and world champion. She won

the country's first Olympic medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck,

Austria.Born

in West Germany

at Straubing,

Bavaria,

Wenzel moved to Liechtenstein at an early age. After she and her younger

brother Andreas had success in ski racing – Hanni won

the gold medal in slalom and silver in the combined at the 1974 World Championships –

the family was granted Liechtenstein citizenship. Winning the slalom title on 8

February 1974, she did become the youngest female Alpine Skiing World Champion

in the Slalom discipline (17 years, 1 month, 25 days) - ousting Esme

Mackinnon who was the first female Alpine Skiing Champion in 1931;

the British racer was 17 years, 2 month and 17 days young when she was

victorious in the slalom race on 19 February 1931. At the 1976 Winter Olympics

in Innsbruck, she won the country's first Olympic medal, a bronze in the slalom

at Axamer Lizum,

and also picked up another world championship medal in the combined. After winning

the World Cup overall title in 1978, Wenzel's best year came in 1980. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, she won gold medals in the slalom

and giant slalom,

and just missed out on a sweep by taking the silver in the downhill

at Whiteface Mountain. She also easily won the

world championship gold medal in the combined event, its final

edition as a "paper race" and her fourth world championship medal in

that event. At the same Olympics, her brother also won a silver medal, placing

Liechtenstein high in the medal ranking of the games. In addition to her

Olympic success, she won nine World Cup races in 1980 and captured the overall,

giant slalom, and combined season titles, and brother Andreas won the men's

overall for a Wenzel family sweep of the overall titles. Her daughter Tina

Weirather won a bronze medal in Super-G

for Liechtenstein at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Wenzel was banned from the 1984 Winter Olympics by

the International Ski Federation (FIS) for

accepting promotional payments directly, rather than through the national ski

federation. Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden was also banned;

both were double gold medalists in 1980. Wenzel retired

following the 1984 season with two Olympic titles, four

World titles, two overall World Cups, three discipline World Cups plus three

combined titles, and 33 World Cup victories. (Through 1980, the Olympics were

also the World Championships.) Through the 2018 Winter Olympics, Liechtenstein has

won a total of ten medals at the Winter Olympics, with eight won by two sets of

siblings – the Wenzels earned six, while brothers Willi

and Paul Frommelt

are responsible for two more.