22 Facts About Alberto Tomba

Alberto Tomba was the dominant technical skier in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Alberto Tomba won three Olympic gold medals, two World Championships, and nine World Cup season titles: four in slalom, four in giant slalom, and one overall title.

Alberto Tomba was popularly called Tomba la Bomba.

Alberto Tomba learned to ski at the age of three and started racing at the age of seven.

Later in life, in 1988, his father Franco promised him a Ferrari if he won a gold medal that year and, as he celebrated his first gold at the bottom of the slope, Alberto Tomba told his father and everyone else who was watching on TV that he wanted the car to be red.

On 27 November 1987, Alberto Tomba scored his first World Cup victory, in a slalom at Sestriere, Italy.

Alberto Tomba won that year's World Cup titles in both slalom and giant slalom, but was runner-up in the overall standings to Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberto Tomba won gold medals in slalom and giant slalom.

Alberto Tomba was not as successful in the following two seasons, winning a total of four World Cup races.

From 1989 to the end of his career, Alberto Tomba was surrounded by his own technical staff managed by former Olympic champion Gustav Thoni and strength and conditioning coach Giorgio d'Urbano, who worked with him for ten seasons.

Alberto Tomba was temporarily put out of action in 1990 when he crashed in a World Cup race in Val-d'Isere, breaking his collarbone.

However, in the 1991 season, Alberto Tomba returned to his winning ways, winning the giant slalom World Cup title for a second time while finishing fourth in the slalom standings.

Alberto Tomba ended 4th in slalom at the 1991 World Championships at Saalbach-Hinterglemm and crashed in the second giant slalom run after having clocked the fastest time in the first leg, handing the victory to Austria's Rudolf Nierlich, the two-time winner at Vail, Colorado, two years earlier.

Alberto Tomba's career reached its second peak during the 1992 season with nine victories and fifteen podiums, and he captured the season-long discipline titles in both his technical specialties.

At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, Alberto Tomba won what was to be his last gold medal at Val d'Isere, in the giant slalom, and picked up a silver in the slalom.

Alberto Tomba was back to his usual ways at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

At the 1996 World Championships, Alberto Tomba finally added the final missing pieces to his trophy case, winning two gold medals at Sierra Nevada, Spain.

Alberto Tomba decided to come back for one more World Championship, held in 1997 on his home snow in Sestriere.

Alberto Tomba 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.

Alberto Tomba decided to continue competing for one more year.

Alberto Tomba's performance at the 1998 Winter Olympics 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 after crashing in giant slalom.

Alberto Tomba retired at the end of the 1998 season, but not before winning a last World Cup race at the Finals at Crans-Montana where he grabbed the slalom, becoming the only alpine male skier to have won at least one World Cup race per year for 11 consecutive seasons.