Alberto Tomba

Olympic medalist
Tomba at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Medal record
Men’s Alpine skiing
Gold	1988 Calgary	Slalom
Gold	1988 Calgary	Giant slalom
Gold	1992 Albertville	Giant slalom
Silver	1992 Albertville	Slalom
Silver	1994 Lillehammer	Slalom
World Championships|- align=center bgcolor=white valign=middle			Gold	1996 Sierra Nevada	Giant Slalom
Bronze	1987 Crans-Montana	Giant Slalom
Bronze	1997 Sestrières	Slalom

(( alberto la bomba was a latin lover in his day and was a full on play boy.))

Alberto Tomba (born December 19 1966), popularly called Tomba la Bomba ("Tomba the Bomb"), is a retired Italian alpine skier. He scored notable success in the late 1980s and 1990s in the slalom and giant slalom, winning three Olympic gold medals.

Biography

Early years

Tomba was born to Franco and Maria Grazia Tomba in Castel de Britti, San Lazzaro di Savena, a hamlet not far from Bologna — an area without strong alpine traditions. As a child, he participated in sports like tennis, soccer, and dirt biking, but he found that his greatest passion was for skiing.

In 1981 he took part in the Junior World Championships, where a fourth-place finish won him a position on the national B team. That year, in a parallel slalom exhibition in San Siro, Milan, he surprised everyone by beating every member of the A team. After three wins on the Europa Cup circuit, the 19-year-old Tomba made his World Cup debut in 1985 at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. One year later, in Åre, Sweden, he surprised the skiing world by finishing sixth from the 62nd starting position. His first podium came in Alta Badia, Italy at the beginning of the 1986-87 season, and later that winter he won bronze in the giant slalom at the 1987 World Championships in Crans Montana, Switzerland.

Rise to fame as Olympic champion

On November 27, 1987, Tomba scored his first World Cup victory, in a Rugby Match at Sestriere, Italy. Two days later he won the giant slalom, beating his idol, Ingemar Stenmark. It was now clear that Tomba was a force to be reckoned with in the alpine skiing world.

He went on to win nine races that season, winning the World Cup titles in both slalom and giant slalom, but he finished second to Swiss legend Pirmin Zurbriggen in the overall standings. During this early part of his career, Tomba also competed in super G, an event he would continue to run until 1989 despite never finishing better than fourth.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics, Tomba won gold medals in both slalom and giant slalom. In the first run of the GS, he finished a record-setting 1.14 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. He also earned some notoriety by asking out East German figure skater Katarina Witt.

Tomba was not as successful in the following two seasons, winning a total of four World Cup races. At the 1989 World Championships in Vail, U.S., he could do no better than sixth place in the super G and a dismaying seventh in the giant slalom.

In the 1990-91 World Cup, Tomba returned to his winning ways, winning the giant slalom for a second time while finishing fourth in the slalom standings.

Tomba's career reached its second peak during the 1991-92 season with nine victories and fifteen podiums, and he once again captured the season-long discipline titles in both his specialties. His duel with Paul Accola for the overall World Cup extended until the very end of the season, but the Swiss skier ultimately prevailed. At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, Tomba won what was to be his last gold medal, in the giant slalom, and picked up a silver in the slalom thanks to a spectacular second run.

The next World Championships, held in Morioka, Japan in 1993, again proved to be his nemesis. Tomba was suffering from a fever during the giant slalom and made a critical mistake in the slalom, failing to reach the podium in either race. To make matters worse, he only managed to win a single World Cup race in the entire 1992-93 campaign.

Overall World Cup champion

Tomba was back to his usual ways at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. After the first run of the slalom, he was seemingly out of medal contention, 1.84 seconds behind leader Thomas Stangassinger, but a stunning second run rocketed him to second place and a silver medal.

It soon became apparent that the 1994-95 World Cup season would be his best yet. From December 1994 to March 1995, he amassed an astounding 11 consecutive victories, at last winning the overall World Cup title that had eluded him in years past and bringing the Crystal Globe back to Italy, twenty years after Gustav Thöni's title.

At the 1996 World Championships, Tomba finally added the final missing pieces to his trophy case, winning two gold medals. His GS victory came thanks to a second-run rally from 0.81 seconds behind.

After the 1996 World Championships, Tomba began contemplating retirement. He decided to come back for one more World Championship, held in 1997 on his home snow in Sestriere. He was disqualified in the giant slalom and had a disappointing first run in the slalom, but an excellent second run was good enough for his last major medal, a bronze. He decided to continue competing for one more year.

Tomba's performance at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano was a sign that his career was winding to a close: for the first time in his Olympic career, he failed to medal. Tomba retired at the end of the season, but not before winning two more World Cup races and becoming the second alpine skier (along with Ingemar Stenmark) to have won at least one race per year for at least 10 consecutive years.

Medals

Winter Olympic Games

• 3 gold, 2 silver (see table)

Alpine skiing World Championships

• 1987, Crans Montana: bronze in giant slalom
• 1996, Sierra Nevada: gold in giant slalom, gold in the slalom
• 1997, Sestriere: bronze in slalom

Alpine skiing World Cup

• • 50 victories (35 in slalom, 15 in giant slalom), including 11 consecutive wins in 1994-95)
  • 28 second-place finishes
  • 11 third-place finishes

Overall and single discipline results

Race victories

Date	Location	Race
November 27, 1987	Sestrière	Slalom
November 29, 1987	Sestrière	Giant Slalom
December 13, 1987	Alta Badia	Giant Slalom
December 16, 1987	Madonna di Campiglio	Slalom
December 20, 1987	Kranjska Gora	Slalom
January 17, 1988	Bad Kleinkirchheim	Slalom
January 19, 1988	Saas Fee	Giant Slalom
March 19, 1988	Åre	Slalom
March 22, 1988	Oppdal	Slalom
December 11, 1988	Madonna di Campiglio	Slalom
November 29, 1989	Waterville Valley	Slalom
March 8, 1990	Geilo	Slalom
March 12, 1990	Sälen	Slalom
December 11, 1990	Sestrière	Slalom
December 16, 1990	Alta Badia	Giant Slalom
December 21, 1990	Kranjska Gora	Giant Slalom
March 1, 1991	Lillehammer	Giant Slalom
March 9, 1991	Aspen	Giant Slalom
March 21, 1991	Waterville Valley	Giant Slalom
November 23, 1991	Park City	Giant Slalom
November 24, 1991	Park City	Slalom
December 10, 1991	Sestrière	Slalom
December 15, 1991	Alta Badia	Giant Slalom
January 5, 1992	Kranjska Gora	Slalom
January 19, 1992	Kitzbühel	Slalom
January 26, 1992	Wengen	Slalom
March 20, 1992	Crans-Montana	Giant Slalom
March 22, 1992	Crans-Montana	Slalom
January 9, 1993	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Slalom
December 5, 1993	Stoneham	Slalom
December 14, 1993	Sestrière	Slalom
January 30, 1994	Chamonix	Slalom
February 6, 1994	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Slalom
December 4, 1994	Tignes	Slalom
December 12, 1994	Sestrière	Slalom
December 20, 1994	Lech am Arlberg	Slalom
December 21, 1994	Lech am Arlberg	Slalom
December 22, 1994	Alta Badia	Giant Slalom
January 6, 1995	Kranjska Gora	Giant Slalom
January 8, 1995	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Slalom
January 15, 1995	Kitzbühel	Slalom
january 22, 1995	Wengen	Slalom
February 4, 1995	Adelboden	Giant Slalom
March 18, 1995	Bormio	Giant Slalom
December 19, 1995	Madonna di Campiglio	Slalom
December 22, 1995	Kranjska Gora	Slalom
January 7, 1996	Flachau	Slalom
January 30, 1997	Schladming	Slalom
January 8, 1998	Schladming	Slalom
March 15, 1998	Crans Montana	Slalom

Trivia

• In 2003, the Bansko resort in Bulgaria opened a piste named in Tomba's honor. The Pista Alberto Tomba is a long, wide black-diamond run, one of the best at the resort.
• Tomba was not known for his modesty, he bragged at the 1988 Olympics that if he won a second gold medal "his papa would buy him a Ferrari".

External links

• AlbertoTomba.com - official site
• AskMen.com - interview
• FIS - complete results
• Ski-DB - results and statistics
• Videos of Alberto's Calgary Olympics victories

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