Nino BIBBIA

Nino Bibbia first came to St. Moritz at age 3, when his father travelled there to sell fruit. He eventually settled there and became a part of the winter sports scene, competing in bobsleigh, skeleton, ice hockey and ski jumping. When the Winter Olympics were held in St. Moritz in 1948, he was selected for the Italian bobsleigh team, and eventually also for the skeleton. In the latter event, he emerged victoriously on the Cresta Run, the first of 231 wins on that track. It was only his second season competing on the Cresta, and the first sliding the full course. Among his victories were 8 Grand Nationals (1960-1964, 1966, 1968 and 1972) and 8 Swiss Championships. He also won two Swiss titles in the luge, in 1946 and 1951.

Nino Bibbia loved his sled so much that immediately after his marriage with Rosa Schmidt, the couple went down the bobsleigh course in a two-man bob. When the Winter Olympics came to Torino in 2006, one of the curves in the Olympic bob/luge/skeleton-course was named after Bibbia.