Born in San Lazzaro di Savena, Italy, on Dec. 19th, 1966, Alberto Tomba raised in Castel de Britti, an area without solid alpine skiing traditions, but not far from the Apennine Mountains. The son of a wealthy businessman in the textile industry burst onto the scene in 1984, when he beat every member of the A team in a PSL exhibition on the Montagnetta slope near San Siro Stadium in Milan. After claiming three wins on the Europa Cup circuit, Tomba made his World Cup debut in December 1985 at Madonna di Campiglio and two months later, in Åre, Sweden, he surprised everyone by finishing sixth in from a bib number of 62. His first podium came the following season in Alta Badia, Italy in December 1986, and later that winter he won bronze in the GS at the 1987 World Championships in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, the sole Italian medal at that World Championships. Tomba's rise to fame began on Nov. 27, 1987 when he scored his first World Cup victory, in a slalom at Sestriere, Italy. Two days later he won the giant slalom, beating his idol, Ingemar Stenmark. Nicknamed 'La Bomba', Tomba made an incredible debut at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, where he collected two gold medals in GS and SL. He then rewrote some history at the WOG. He retained his title in the GS at Albertville in 1992 and two years later, he again won a silver medal in the SL in Lillehammer,, after recovering from a 12th place in the 1st run and becoming the first Alpine skier to win medals in three different Winter Olympics and the first male Alpine skier to earn five career Olympic medals. Tomba was not as successful at the World Championships due to illness, poor form and mistakes which denied him a gold medal until 1996, when he finally added the final missing pieces to his trophy case, winning two golds at Sierra Nevada. A larger-than-life true character on and off slopes, Tomba secured eight discipline titles in his career but he had to wait the 1994/95 season to capture his first and only overall World Cup trophy, joining fellow countrymen Gustav Thoeni and Piero Gros. From December 1994 to March 1995, he amassed an impressive 11 victories in the technical events including seven in a row in slalom bringing the Crystal Globe back to Italy, twenty years after Thoeni's last title in 1975. Tomba drew the curtain on his career at the end of the 1998 season, but not before winning a last World Cup race at the Finals at Crans-Montana where he grabbed the slalom, signing off in style with his 50th World Cup win, becoming the only alpine male skier to have won at least one World Cup race per year for 11 consecutive seasons.
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