Hedy SCHLUNEGGER

Although her brother Hans was a world-class skier, Hedy Schlunegger had little opportunity to train and develop her talents in skiing. Nonetheless she managed to win seven Swiss national titles in the 1940s: the downhill four times (1942, 1944, 1946, 1947) and the combined thrice (1943, 1946, 1947). She was selected to represent her country at the 1948 Winter Olympics and achieved her greatest victory by winning the downhill event by a margin of eight-tenths of a second. She also came in eighth in the combined event at these Games. She got married in 1949 and retired soon thereafter, eventually opening up a sports shop in Grindelwald with her husband in 1959. They ran the business together until their 1992 retirement, at which point the store was passed down to their children. Her daughters Elizabeth and Käthy were members of the Swiss national alpine skiing team, while her granddaughter Martina Schild won a silver medal in the downhill event at the 2006 Winter Olympics.