Luxembourg

Exciting sporting facts

1 Olympic gold medal only…
So far Josy Barthel is the only person from Luxembourg ever to have won an Olympic gold medal. On 26th July 1952, he won the 1,500 metre running in Helsinki and with his time of 3:44:2 minutes broke the Olympic record. After the end of his career as a professional sportsman, he turned to politics and held several ministerial offices between 1972 and 1976, including Postmaster General.

Successful skiing from Luxembourg
Between 1985 and 1993 Marc Giradelli became the overall World Cup ski champion an amazing five times, which makes him one of the most successful alpine ski racers ever. He won a total number of 46 World Cup races and also secured four World Champion titles: in the Slalom in 1991 and in the Combination in 1987, 1989 and 1996. However, a severe knee injury ended his sporting career in 1997.
Giradelli was born in Austria, but in 1988, after disagreements with the Austrian Ski Association, he decided to race for Luxembourg instead. He now lives in the German town of Bottrop, where he manages the "Alpine Centre", one of the world's biggest skiing centres.

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