Leonardo David

Leonardo David ( born September 27, 1960 in Gressoney -Saint- Jean; † February 26, 1985 ) was an Italian alpine skier. He was in the late 1970s as one of the most promising slalom and giant slalom talents of the world cup. Only three months after his debut, he fell after a fall into a vegetative state and died of a heart attack six years later.

Biography

A native of the Valle d'Aosta David was born as the son of two-time Italian champion Davide David departure. Under the tutelage of his father he became a top international riders. He won at the Junior European Championships 1977 in Kranjska Gora the bronze medal in the giant slalom and denied in winter 1976/77 at the age of 16 years, his first race in the European Cup. Already in his second season he won the overall title of the European Cup for themselves.

Its continuation was the steep ascent of David in the 1978/79 season in the World Cup. Start of the season he drove in Schladming in his first World Cup race ever equal to the third. In the following two months he reached a top position after another and made established stars such as Ingemar Stenmark and Phil Mahre serious competition in the slalom and giant slalom competitions. Italy celebrated him as the legitimate successor of Gustav Thöni. Overall, David was able to place between December 1978 and February 1979 ten times in the top ten. The greatest success came for the 18 -year-olds in the World Cup slalom in Oslo. In the second race he sat down at the head of the field and took the first and only World Cup victory of his short career. This victory was the last slalom success for the Italian men's team for almost eight years.

Just under a week after his victory, on 16 February 1979, he crashed heavily on the descent in the Italian Championship in Cortina d' Ampezzo. After his accident he complained of severe headache. However, an added solid neurologist found no evidence of injury to the brain. After a two week recovery period David traveled in early March with the Italian team to the pre-Olympic competitions in Lake Placid. Although the shocks on the slopes still gave him a headache, he went to the World Cup downhill on March 3, 1979 to the start. He fell just before the finish line again, stood up and crossed the finish line. A few minutes later, he broke the finish area along unconscious.

From this consciousness David woke never again. By suffered in the two heavy falls craniocerebral trauma he fell into a persistent vegetative state, in which he paralyzed only apparently responded to external stimuli. For three years, his parents tried in vain with the help of international experts to bring him out of the coma. The last three years of his life, she nursed him at home. Finally, Leonardo David died on February 26, 1985, almost exactly six years after his fall, at the age of 24 years due to heart failure.

The early death of David was the case for the courts. His parents filed a lawsuit against the officials of the Italian Ski Federation. With the untimely return to the World Cup they had violated the duty of supervision for athletes.

World Cup wins

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