Henri Oreiller

Henri Jean Auguste Oreiller (5 December 1925 – 7 October 1962)[1] was an alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from France. He won two gold medals and a bronze at the 1948 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete those Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland.[2]

Henri Oreiller
An illustration of Henri Oreiller, ca. 1948
Born(1925-12-05)5 December 1925
Paris, France
Died7 October 1962(1962-10-07) (aged 36)
Paris, France
OccupationAlpine skier
Skiing career
Disciplinesdownhill, giant slalom, slalom, combined
ClubVal-d'Isère
Retired1952 (age 26)
Olympics
Teams2 – (1948, 1952)
Medals3 (2 gold)
World Championships
Teams3 – (1948, 1950, 1952)
    includes Olympics
Medals3 (2 gold)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing  France
Olympic Games
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1948 St. Moritz Downhill
Gold medal – first place 1948 St. Moritz Combined
Bronze medal – third place 1948 St. Moritz Slalom

Biography

Born in Paris, the son of Léon Oreiller, of Italian origin, and Marguerite Favre, from Savoie. His parents lived in Paris and frequented Val d'Isère for holidays. Oreiller was a member of Section Eclairuers Skieurs, a specialist skiing section of the French Resistance during World War II. After the liberation of Paris he fought in the Alps in an elite winter combat unit of the French Army.[2]

Nicknamed the "Parisian of Val d'Isère" or the "madman of downhill", he was the inaugural downhill gold medallist at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics, with a record margin of four seconds over the runner-up. His medals cache included: the gold medal in the combined event, and the bronze medal in the special slalom. He missed one of his medal ceremonies because he was playing accordion in a local bar, and received his medal a week later.[2]

He competed in the 1950 World Championships at Aspen and finished fourth in the new event, the giant slalom. At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Oreiller was 14th in the downhill and 16th in the giant slalom.[2]

Obsessed with speed, Oreiller retired from ski racing in 1952 at age 26 to take up motor racing. Ten years later, he had a racing car accident which took his life on 7 October 1962. A tire blowout at 100 mph (160 km/h) caused his Ferrari to flip at the Linas-Montlhéry autodrome and he later died at Hôpital Cochin in Paris.[3]

At his shrine at Val d'Isère, where he is interred next to his wife, testimonies from around the world bear witness to his abilities.

Arlberg-Kandahar

Others
  • Winner of the Harriman Cup in 1949 in Sun Valley in the U.S., in downhill, slalom, and combined.[4][5]
  • Champion of France in special slalom in 1947.

Motor racing
  • Champion of France in "touring" category in 1959.
  • Tour de France 1959, winner on points.
  • Lyon-Carbonniere Rallye in 1960 and 1961.

References
  1. "Motorsport Memorial - Henri Oreiller". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  2. Henri Oreiller Archived 28 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Sports Reference
  3. "Race driver dies in French crash". Wilmington (NC) Morning Star. UPI. 8 October 1962. p. 10.
  4. "French ski aces garner Harriman Cups by sweeping slalom events". Deseret News. INS. 28 March 1949. p. B-2.
  5. "French skiers win Harriman Cup races". Lewiston Daily Sun. UPI. 28 March 1949. p. 8.
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