Nino Bibbia

Nino Bibbia ( born March 15, 1922 in Bian zone, † May 28 2013 in St. Moritz ) was an Italian winter sports.

Sports career

Bibbia moved with his parents as a child from the Italian Bian zone to 50 km distant Swiss St. Moritz, where he attended school. He then led a vegetable plot and developed the way to a successful amateur winter athletes. In addition to the skeleton bobsleigh, Nordic and alpine skiing species and Hockey were among his strengths, which he believes to be the practiced on the natural systems in Arosa, Davos and Klosters ski jumping has prepared the most pleasure.

Bibbia came by chance on Cresta race of Celerina. He had success already in his first races, earning then for a box Chianti his first Cresta bobsled, with which he could defeat the British competition that dominated the sport of Cresta - time, regularly. After all, he won 232 Cresta races in his career. Six times he was Cresta World Champion. Over 30 years he was the most successful Cresta and thus is still regarded as " King of the Cresta Runs ".

At the Olympic Winter Games in 1948 in St. Moritz Bibbia wanted to start in five disciplines. Due to the tight schedule, it was only enough to start in Bob and Skeleton. In skeleton, he was Olympic champion and the second champions in this discipline at all. The reason for this was that only once before, in 1928, the Skeleton in the program. The former champion was Jennison Heaton. His brother John Heaton went to both 1928 and 1948, reaching both times the silver medal. The actual favorite was against John Crammond, which reached only bronze. Since the competition was first held back in 2002, there were no further meetings in the Olympic context. Bibbia drove for the last time in 1996 at the age of 73 years. 1946 and 1951, he was - as an Italian - Swiss champions in luge.