The Coronation

17 February, 1980. Annemarie Moser-Pröll had won the Downhill World Cup seven times - and yet was still missing one victory: the Olympics. As she stood in the starting gate she knew that this was her last chance to win Olympic gold in the downhill. The pressure was unimaginable, but Moser-Pröll smiled before catapulting herself into the race. “It was an unconscious smile because I was so looking forward to the Olympic Games and especially the downhill,” she said in an interview on her 60th birthday. “I skied so well in training and was four seconds ahead of everyone else in the first run. That's when I thought to myself: I have to win the Olympics.” Win it she did.

After 1:37.52 minutes in the icy minus-20 cold, Moser-Pröll had the victory in the bag, capping a pretty perfect career. At that point, she had already won 62 World Cup races, triumphed six times in the overall World Cup and celebrated four world championship titles. Annemarie Moser-Pröll achieved a special feat in the 1972/73 season: she managed a perfect season in the downhill, winning all eight races. “I am proud to have achieved what I set out to do as a child, namely to become world champion.” And the Olympics gold? “That was the crowning glory”.