Tamara McKinney
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | October 16, 1962 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Alpine skier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skiing career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disciplines | Giant slalom, slalom, combined | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup debut | December 1978 (age 16) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | November 1990 (age 28)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | tamaramckinney.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 3 – (1980, 1984, 1988) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 5 – (1980–1989) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 4 (1 gold) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 11 – (1979–1989) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 18 – (9 GS, 9 SL) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Podiums | 45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall titles | 1 – (1983) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline titles | 3 – (2 GS, 1 SL) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Tamara McKinney (born October 16, 1962) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. She won four World Cup season titles, most notably the 1983 overall, the first American woman title holder for a quarter century. McKinney's other three season titles were in giant slalom (1981, 1983) and slalom (1984). She was a world champion in the combined event in 1989, her final year of competition. [2]
Her half-brother Steve McKinney was a world-record holding speed skier, setting seven world records and breaking his own record twice.
Life and career
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, the diminutive McKinney (5 ft 4 in (1.63 m), 115 lb (52 kg)) grew up in Squaw Valley, California, the youngest of seven children.[3][4]
She made her World Cup debut in December 1978 at age 16 with a podium finish in a slalom in Italy. Her first World Cup victory came at age 18 in January 1981, the first of four wins in giant slalom that breakthrough season. McKinney raced on the World Cup circuit for eleven seasons, and competed in three Olympics and five world championships. She won four medals in the world championships; bronze medals in the combined (1985, 1987) and slalom (1989), and a gold medal in the combined at Vail in 1989.
While winning the overall World Cup in 1983 at age 20, she also won the giant slalom title, which she had first won in 1981. In 1984 McKinney won the slalom title, and took fourth place in the giant slalom at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, behind teammates Debbie Armstrong and Christin Cooper.[5][6][7][8] McKinney participated in Prince Edward Windsor of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland's charity television special The Grand Knockout Tournament in 1987.
While training for the upcoming 1990 season, McKinney broke her left leg (for the third time) in Saas Fee, Switzerland, in mid-October 1989.[9] Slow to recover, she announced her retirement in November 1990 at age 28[1] and completed her career with 18 World Cup victories, 45 podiums, and 99 top ten finishes.[10] Eight of her victories were in the U.S., with six at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, which included double victories in 1983 and 1984. Along with Gretchen Fraser, Andrea Mead Lawrence, Lindsey Vonn, and Mikaela Shiffrin, McKinney is regarded as one of the top female alpine ski racers in U.S. history.
She was inducted in the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004, was a realtor in the Lake Tahoe area, and is now coaching skiing at the Aspen Valley Ski Club in Aspen, Colorado for Johno McBride.
World Cup results
Season standings
| Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 16 | 25 | 21 | 13 | not run |
— | — |
| 1980 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 24 | — | — | |
| 1981 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 1 | — | 12 | |
| 1982 | 19 | 9 | 12 | 4 | — | — | |
| 1983 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 1 | not awarded (w/ GS) |
— | 6 |
| 1984 | 21 | 3 | 1 | 3 | — | 9 | |
| 1985 | 22 | 8 | 2 | 11 | — | 17 | |
| 1986 | 23 | 24 | 14 | 20 | 31 | — | 28 |
| 1987 | 24 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 32 | — | — |
| 1988 | 25 | 54 | — | 19 | — | — | — |
| 1989 | 26 | 11 | 3 | 13 | — | — | 8 |
| 1990 | 27 | injured in October, missed entire season | |||||
Season titles
| Season | Discipline |
|---|---|
| 1981 | Giant slalom |
| 1983 | Overall |
| Giant slalom | |
| 1984 | Slalom |
Race victories
| Season | Date | Location | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 20 Jan 1981 |  Haute-Nendaz, Switzerland |
Giant slalom |
| 24 Jan 1981 |  Les Gets, France |
Giant slalom | |
| 8 Mar 1981 |  Aspen, CO, USA |
Giant slalom | |
| 1983 | 5 Dec 1982 |  Limone Piemonte, Italy |
Slalom |
| 9 Jan 1983 | Davos, Switzerland |
Slalom | |
| 23 Jan 1983 | St. Gervais, France |
Giant slalom | |
| 8 Mar 1983 | Waterville Valley, NH, USA |
Giant slalom | |
| 9 Mar 1983 | Giant slalom | ||
| 13 Mar 1983 | Vail, CO, USA |
Giant slalom | |
| 20 Mar 1983 |  Furano, Japan |
Slalom | |
| 1984 | 10 Mar 1984 | Waterville Valley, NH, USA |
Giant slalom |
| 11 Mar 1984 | Slalom | ||
| 21 Mar 1984 |  Zwiesel, West Germany |
Giant slalom | |
| 24 Mar 1984 |  Oslo, Norway |
Slalom | |
| 1985 | 5 Jan 1985 |  Maribor, Yugoslavia |
Slalom |
| 16 Mar 1985 | Waterville Valley, NH, USA |
Slalom | |
| 1987 | 18 Dec 1986 | Courmayeur, Italy |
Slalom |
| 11 Jan 1987 |  Mellau, Austria |
Slalom |
World championship results
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 17 | DNF1 | DNF1 | not run | — | — |
| 1982 | 19 | DNF1 | 6 | — | — | |
| 1985 | 22 | DNF | DNF | — | 3 | |
| 1987 | 24 | DNF1 | 18 | — | — | 3 |
| 1989 | 26 | 3 | DNF | — | — | 1 |
From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
Olympic results 
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 17 | DNF1 | DNF1 | not run | — | not run |
| 1984 | 21 | DNF1 | 4 | — | ||
| 1988 | 25 | DNF1 | DNF1 | — | — | — |
Video
- You Tube.com – 1989 World Championships – gold medal in combined
References
- ^ a b "Champion skier retires". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 28 November 1990. p. 2B.
- ^ "Tamara McKinney profile". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
- ^ Johnson, William Oscar (7 February 1983). "To her, speed thrills". Sports Illustrated. p. 40.
- ^ Beech, Mark (18 March 2002). "Catching up with: Tamara McKinney and Phil Mahre, skiers". Sports Illustrated. p. 21.
- ^ Nelson, John (13 February 1984). "America discovers gold and silver on alpine hills". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). Associated Press. p. D1.
- ^ "USA strikes gold in Winter Games". Nashua Telegraph. (New Hampshire). Associated Press. 14 February 1984. p. 19.
- ^ "America cheers its first champion". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services reports. 14 February 1984. p. 1D.
- ^ Johnson, William Oscar (20 February 1984). "'Have fun! Have fun! Have fun!'". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
- ^ "Tamara McKinney breaks leg, might miss entire World Cup". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). Associated Press. 19 October 1989. p. D5.
- ^ Ski-db.com - Tamara McKinney - accessed 2010-11-28
External links
- Tamara McKinney at FIS (alpine)
- Tamara McKinney at Olympedia
- Tamara McKinney at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
- Ski World Cup.org - biography - Tamara McKinney
- Sports Illustrated – cover – 1984 Winter Olympics preview
- TIME.com - "For Purple Mountains' Majesty" (March 21, 1983)
- TIME.com - "Their Success Is All in the Family" (January 30, 1984)
- Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame (2004)
- tamaramckinney.com - web site - real estate
- American female alpine skiers
- Alpine skiers at the 1980 Winter Olympics
- Alpine skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics
- Alpine skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics
- Olympic alpine skiers for the United States
- Sportspeople from California
- Sportspeople from Lexington, Kentucky
- 1962 births
- Living people
- FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions
- People from Olympic Valley, California
- Sportspeople from Placer County, California
- Sportswomen from Kentucky
- 21st-century American women