Marc Girardelli; Credit: Marc Girardelli

33 years ago, Luxembourg secured its first and, to date, only Winter Olympic medals, as Alpine skier Marc Girardelli claimed two silver in Albertville, France in 1992.

The then 28-year-old athlete first stepped onto the Olympic podium on 16 February 1992, securing silver in the Super-G event, finishing 0.73 seconds behind Norway’s Kjetil André Aamodt. Just two days later, in the Giant Slalom, he outperformed the Norwegian but fell short by 0.32 seconds to one of his career’s fiercest rivals, Italy’s Alberto Tomba, once again claiming silver.

Girardelli recalled his battle for an Olympic medal in the Giant Slalom during an interview with Chronicle.lu: “Very, very remarkable situation was in Giants Slalom. It was not to expect that I am so fast, but the course was very difficult and I was always good in difficult course. And I was only one 0.1 second behind Tomba in the first run. And then I tried before the second run. I had a good experience the year before because I was leading the Slalom in Saalbach [World Championships 2022] and Tombe was second, only a 0.1 second behind me. And then I found out that he's becoming nervous when I'm close to him. So I was staying very close to him for fifteen minutes before the second run. And he made a big **** [mistake] in the second run and he didn't win any medal.”

“I tried the same procedure in Albertville as well. But I found out that because I won only one race and Tomba won maybe ten races before the Olympics and he was in such a strong shape that I couldn't make him nervous. So in the opposite I found that I am getting nervous when I'm too long beside him. So I started to concentrate on my second run. It was good. I lost, not by far, but I made a good performance, but he was too strong that day,” he continued.

The medallist described the Olympic season as “not my best year”. A positive change, which helped him, was switching ski brands, as after using Atomic, his new Dynastar skis in the speed disciplines were slower. “My advantage was that Albertville [slope] was quite steep and so I had a chance in downhill because I had slow skis. That was remarkable. And I was lucky enough to win a silver medal in Super G and the technical skis were okay, but it was the maximum I could get out of this Olympics.”

As the former alpine skier stated, motivation was never a problem for him: “You have always the challenge to beat the best in the world, then you never lose a goal. If you have a goal to become tense or fifth in the World Cup race zone or in the Olympics, you will never succeed. So from the beginning to the end of my career, the best in the best was always my main target.”

The main challenges for Girardelli were that his team consisted of just two people - himself and his father, Helmut Girardelli - as well as the injuries that were an inevitable part of his career. “The problem was mostly solving material problems, technical problems. And that is a hell to work with two people. It was only my father and me. We had no other support. And if you have a problem with the technique or with the material or with the health, then you are dependent on yourself. You have no team, no doctors, nothing. You have to arrange everything by yourself. And in a small team, like we were, it is much more difficult to find quick solutions than in a big team because the [source] of information is so much smaller,” noted Marc Girardelli.

It was his father who initiated Girardelli’s decision to compete for Luxembourg, due to disagreements with the Austrian federation over his son's training methods. “Luxembourg did not give me any financial support. I didn't get anything, but they gave me moral support and that is sometimes more important. I knew that I'm always welcome in Luxembourg and I still have good friends over there. I love to think about my time with Luxembourg people and sometimes I organise events for Luxembourg and at least I have a ski wear clothing line. And Luxembourg's Ski Federation is wearing my clothing line since many, many years,” said the 61-year-old medal holder.

During his career, Marc Girardelli was also a five-time overall World Cup champion - an achievement he described as “my main target". He explained: “World Cup was always my premium goal because my biggest rival was Pirmin Zurbriggen from Switzerland. He was also a polyvalent skier. He could win Slaloms as well as downhills. And eight years in a row we were winning the World Cup, one time Zurbriggen and one time me. So he was the hardest rival in my career and that's why I always was focusing on the World Cup overall title.”

Most of Girardelli’s trophies were lost when his hotel burned down 25 years ago in Austria. However, his Olympic medals survived and remain with him: “I have Olympics medals somewhere around, but I'm living in a rather small apartment in Lichtenstein right now”. He quipped: “[On the] one side [it] is very sad, another side [it] is very good because I don't need any more space for trophies, because they are no more around.”

Currently, Marc Girardelli has his own clothing line, which he is working on with his friend. “It's running quite well. We make very good turnover, but the business is not so easy because the ski clubs and the ski school, they don't have anymore so much money after COVID-19 than before COVID-19. So the business is not so well,” added the former athlete. At the same time, he organises ski events and makes consulting for ski areas like Bansko in Bulgaria.

Girardelli is pleased to meet new interesting people from around the world and considers it one of his main hobbies: “I had now a big event in Kitzbühel a few weeks ago with 35 customers from all around the world. And it is very nice to see, they didn't know each other before, and after they visited, they start to make business with each other worldwide. And that is a very, very nice experience to keep friendships with my customers for many, many years. That's also […] definitely my biggest hobby to meet other people, interesting people, interesting cultures.”

At the end of the interview, the sole holder of Luxembourg’s Winter Olympic medals shared his advice for young athletes who dream of competing at the highest level: “The most important thing for any racer, for any athlete is always to have fun and joy in what you are doing. Only when you do something with joy, with passion, then you are able to become better. And also world class. If you do something you don't like that much, but you have to do it, you will never be world class. So the first is always that you love your sport, your activity you decide to do, and this is your own decision. You can decide if you want to be track and field athlete, skier, ice hockey player or soccer [football] player, but if you choose something, do it with passion. And if you do that, you have the best chances to become very good.”

IK