Five-time World Cup overall champion Girardelli retires

Monday, Feb. 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

SESTRIERE, Italy -- Five-time World Cup champion Marc Girardelli said Monday he is retiring because of bad knees.

The Austrian-born Girardelli, who raced for Luxembourg, won 13 world and Olympic medals - the most by a male skier and two ahead of Pirmin Zurbriggen. He also had victories in 46 World Cup races, No. 3 on the career list behind Ingemar Stenmark (86) and Alberto Tomba (48).

Girardelli, 33, said he injured himself during a World Cup race in December at Val d'Isere, France. The injury apparently came going over a jump, where the compression on the landing damaged an already fragile left knee. He raced a few days later at Gardena, Italy, but had a poor finish and decided to see doctors.

"At the beginning it did not seem very serious," Girardelli said. "But then it turned out to be much worse than expected. After talking with three top specialists, I was advised to leave the sport. They said there was a risk I'd walk on crutches for the rest of my life if I continued.

Girardelli was unable to defend the combined title he won a year ago at the World Alpine Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain. He has had a dozen knee operations in his career.

"I was not ready for this," he said during a news conference attended by his mother and father. His father, Helmut, has been his coach.

"I felt strong at the start of the season, and I was looking forward to continuing through the 1998 Olympics in Nagano," Girardelli said.

Girardelli won his first World Cup race in 1983 and won World Cup races in all five Alpine disciplines, including 16 in slalom.

Girardelli won the overall World Cup title in 1985, '86, '89, '91 and '93 and won 13 medals in the Olympics and worlds, four of them gold.

His only blemish was his failure to win gold in the Olympics. He came close in the 1992 Olympics, getting silver medals in both giant slalom and super-G.