Betsy Snite

Betsy Snite Riley ( born December 20, 1938 in Grand Rapids, Michigan; † 15 June 1984) was an American alpine skier.

Snite, was born as the daughter of Al Snite, a lecturer at Dartmouth College and grew up in Norwich ( Vermont). From her father she learned as a young child to ski. Thanks to her talent, she was accepted into the prestigious Ford Sayre funding. At the age of 16 years Snite denied their first ski races in Europe.

In 1956 she qualified for the first time the U.S. Olympic team, but then not at the Olympic Games in Cortina d' Ampezzo used. After she won the giant slalom in 1959 the SDS- race and won the North American championship in slalom she celebrated the biggest success of her career at the Olympic Winter Games 1960. Three days after she missed a medal by only two tenths of seconds in the giant slalom, she drove to second place in the slalom behind the Canadian Anne Heggtveit.

After her playing career Snite settled in Stowe and there opened a store for sportswear. In 1976 she was included in memory of her success in the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame.

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