Manuela Di Centa

Medal record
Di Centa (left) in 2008
Women's cross country skiing
Olympic Games
Bronze	1992 Albertville	4 x 5 km
Bronze	1994 Lillehammer	4 x 5 km
Gold	1994 Lillehammer	15 km
Gold	1994 Lillehammer	30 km
Silver	1994 Lillehammer	5 km
Silver	1994 Lillehammer	5 km + 10 km combined pursuit
Bronze	1998 Nagano	4 x 5 km
World Championships
Silver	1991 Val di Fiemme	4 x 5 km
Bronze	1991 Val di Fiemme	5 km
Bronze	1991 Val di Fiemme	30 km
Silver	1993 Falun	30 km
Silver	1993 Falun	4 x 5 km
Silver	1995 Thunder Bay	30 km
Bronze	1995 Thunder Bay	5 km

Manuela Di Centa (born January 31, 1963) is an Italian cross-country skier and former Olympic athlete. She is the cousin of former track and field athlete Venanzio Ortis and the sister of cross-country skier Giorgio Di Centa.

Career

Di Centa, born in Paluzza, province of Udine, to a family of Nordic skiers, made her debut on the Italian national team in 1980 at the age of 17. Two years later, she competed at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo finishing in eighth place. After a quarrel with the president of the Italian Skiing Federation, Di Centa left the national team, not returning until 1986.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, she finished sixth in the 20 km freestyle. She won her first medals in international competition at the 1991 World Championships in Val di Fiemme: a silver (4 x 5 km) and two bronzes (5 km, 30 km). An Olympic medal followed in 1992, a bronze in the 4 x 5 km. In 1993, at the Falun World Championships, she won two more silvers (30 km, 4 x 5 km). At the 1995 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, she won another silver (30 km) and a bronze (5 km).

Di Centa also became Italian national champion in fell running in 1985, 1989 and 1991.

Di Centa seemed confined to the role of the eternal second, but this changed abruptly at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, where she medaled in all five cross-country events: two gold, two silver and one bronze medal. The same year she also won her first aggregate Cross Country Skiing World Cup, a feat she repeated in 1996.

In 1996 she was the first Italian cross country skier to receive the Holmenkollen Medal. Her last title was a bronze at the 1998 Winter Olympics in the 4 x 5 km.

After retiring, Di Centa worked for Italian television (RAI), and became a member of the Italian and International Olympic Committees.

Di Centa became the first Italian woman to climb Mount Everest (with supplementary oxygen) in 2003.

Di Centa is the first Italian woman (and the 19th Italian) to compete at five Olympics, which she did from 1984 to 1998.

Her younger brother Giorgio is currently a member of the Italian national cross country ski team and was the winner of two gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

2006 Winter Olympics

As a member of the International Olympic Committee and the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) and as one of Italy's most accomplished Winter Olympic athletes, Di Centa played a prominent public role in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She was one of the eight flag bearers during the Opening Ceremonies. At the Closing Ceremonies, she participated in the awarding of medals to the winners of the men's 50 km cross-country race. Coincidentally, the gold medal winner was her younger brother Giorgio Di Centa.

Politics

Manuela Di Centa, who has been vice-president of the National Council of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) until 2006, is also involved in politics and is a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Forza Italia.

See also

• List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games

External links

• Manuela Di Centa at the International Ski Federation
• Holmenkollen medalists - click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file (Norwegian)
• Official website (Italian)