Chiharu Igaya

Chiharu Igaya, OLY[1] (猪谷 千春, Igaya Chiharu, born May 20, 1931) is a former Olympic alpine ski racer and silver medalist from Japan. He competed in three Winter Olympics (1952, 1956, 1960).[2]

Chiharu Igaya
Igaya in 1956
Born (1931-05-20) May 20, 1931
Tomari, Kunashiri (ja),
Hokkaidō, Japan
OccupationAlpine skier
Height1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Skiing career
DisciplinesSlalom, giant slalom,
Downhill, combined
ClubDartmouth College
Olympics
Teams3 – (1952, 1956, 1960)
Medals1 (0 gold)
World Championships
Teams4 – (1952, 1956, 1958, 1960)
         includes Olympics
Medals2 (0 gold)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1956 Cortina Slalom
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1958 Bad Gastein Slalom
1956 Olympic slalom medalists:
Stig Sollander, Toni Sailer (gold), and Igaya
Igaya training on the roof
of his house in 1951

Ski racing

Born in Tomari, Kunashiri (ja), Hokkaidō, Igaya attended college in the United States at Dartmouth in New Hampshire, where he raced for the Big Green[3] and graduated in 1957. "Chick" won the U.S. national title in slalom in 1954 at Aspen, Colorado,[4] and took a third consecutive NCAA title in slalom, his sixth individual, in 1957 at Snowbasin, Utah.[5]

At the Olympics in 1952, Igaya finished eleventh in the slalom, 20th in the giant slalom, and 24th in the downhill. Four years later in 1956, he won the silver medal in the slalom, was eleventh in the giant slalom, but did not finish in the downhill. All three events were won by Toni Sailer of Austria. At the 1960 Games, Igaya was twelfth in the slalom, 23rd in the giant slalom, and 34th in the downhill.[2] Igaya also won a bronze medal in slalom at the World Championships in 1958, and finished fourth in the combined.

After racing

After graduation, Igaya worked in insurance, eventually becoming president of the Japanese branch of AIU Insurance Company. In parallel, he served as a sports administrator. Igaya was a member of the FIS alpine skiing committee and vice-president of the International Triathlon Union. He was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1982 to 2012, becoming vice-president in 2005, and an honorary member in 2012.[2][6] At the Winter Olympics in 2018, Igaya was inducted into the Olympians for Life project for giving back to sport.[7]

World Championship results
  Year   Age  Slalom Giant
 Slalom 		Super-GDownhillCombined
1952201120not
run		24not run
195624211DNF—
19582636154
19602812233410

From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).

Olympic results
  Year   Age  Slalom Giant
 Slalom 		Super-GDownhillCombined
1952201120not
run		24not run
195624211DNF
196028122334

NCAA titles
Main article: NCAA Skiing Championships

References
  1. Olympians: Olympians for Life – website of the WOA
  2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Chiharu Igaya". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.
  3. "Chick Igaya wins Cransmore slalom". Lewiston Daily Sun. (Maine). Associated Press. Feb 7, 1955. p. 9.
  4. "Dartmouth skier wins Roch trophy at Aspen". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). United Press. March 15, 1954. p. 4B.
  5. "Igaya captures NCAA slalom title". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. March 31, 1957. p. 1-C.
  6. "Mr. Chiharu Igaya". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  7. "WOA honours Olympians for Life inductees".
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