Carole Merle
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 24 January 1964 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Alpine skier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skiing career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disciplines | Super-G, giant slalom Downhill, combined | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 4 - (1984, 1988, 1992, 1994) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 4 - (1987, 1989, 1991, 1993) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 3 (1 gold) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 13 - (1982–1994) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 22 - (12 SG, 10 GS) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall titles | 0 - (2nd in 1992, 3rd in 1993) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline titles | 6 - (4 SG, 2 GS) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg){kind=link}
.svg){kind=link}
Carole Merle (French pronunciation: [ka.ʁɔl mɛʁl]; born 24 January 1964) is a former French Alpine skier. A specialist of Giant slalom and Super-G, she won 22 World Cup races, 6 World Cup season titles and 1 World Championship gold medal.[1]
Skiing career
[edit | edit source]A native of Le Sauze, a ski resort of Enchastrayes commune where her parents ran a hotel, Merle learned to ski at a very young age. She took part in her first competition as a six-year-old, and made her World Cup debut at 18. On 23 January 1983, she took her first World Cup podium with a third-place finish in giant slalom at St. Gervais. But it took another few years for her to reach her full potential.[2]
Her first World Cup win came on 6 January 1988 at Tignes. The following season saw her bag the World cup title in Super-G, finishing 4 points ahead of 1988 Olympic champion Sigrid Wolf. Merle went on to win the Super-G season title 4 years in a row (1989–1992), a feat only equalled in later years by Katja Seizinger of Germany (1993–1996) and Lindsey Vonn of the USA (2009–2012). In addition, Merle won the giant slalom World Cup in 1992 and 1993. These two same years, she finished 2nd (behind Austria's Petra Kronberger) and 3rd in the World Cup overall standings.[2]
At the 1989 World Championships in Vail she won a silver medal in the giant slalom, two years later at the 1991 World Championships in Saalbach she won another medal and at the 1993 World Championships in Morioka she finally won the gold medal in the giant slalom. At the 1992 Olympics in Albertville she won a silver medal in the Super-G event.[1]
Later life
[edit | edit source]Merle retired at the end of the 1994 ski season. During her career, she had earnings of more than 20 million French francs, which an uncle was managing on her behalf. In 1997, she made headlines when she publicly announced she had lost everything and had accumulated more than 70 million in debts, accusing her uncle of mismanaging her fortune.[3]
She later settled away from the ski slopes, in a Camargue farmhouse, to pursue her passion for horses. In a 2012 interview for French newspaper Le Dauphiné libéré, she claimed she had not skied for at least six years, but added she would never miss a ski World Cup on TV.[4]
World Cup results
[edit | edit source]Season standings
[edit | edit source]| Season | Age | Overall | Super-G | Giant slalom |
Downhill | Combine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 18 | 71 | - | 38 | - | 26 |
| 1983 | 19 | 38 | - | 14 | 31 | - |
| 1984 | 20 | 28 | - | 10 | - | 24 |
| 1985 | 21 | 58 | - | 27 | - | - |
| 1986 | 22 | 40 | 31 | 12 | 28 | - |
| 1987 | 23 | 60 | - | 23 | - | - |
| 1988 | 24 | 19 | - | 6 | 24 | - |
| 1989 | 25 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| 1990 | 26 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 10 | - |
| 1991 | 27 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 4 | - |
| 1992 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | - |
| 1993 | 29 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | - |
| 1994 | 30 | 20 | 24 | 8 | 53 | - |
Race victories
[edit | edit source]| Season | Date | Location | Race |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 6 January 1988 | France Tignes, France | Giant slalom |
| 1989 | 26 November 1988 | Error creating thumbnail: Schladming, Austria | Super-G |
| 14 January 1989 | Switzerland Grindelwald, Switzerland | Super-G | |
| 20 January 1989 | France Tignes, France | Super-G | |
| 1990 | 10 February 1990 | France Méribel, France | Super-G |
| 11 February 1990 | Super-G | ||
| 10 March 1990 | Norway Stranda, Norway | Giant slalom | |
| 14 March 1990 | Sweden Klövsjö, Sweden | Giant slalom | |
| 16 March 1990 | Sweden Åre, Sweden | Super-G | |
| 1991 | 9 February 1991 | Error creating thumbnail: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany | Super-G |
| 24 February 1991 | Japan Furano, Japan | Super-G | |
| 1992 | 15 December 1991 | Error creating thumbnail: Santa Caterina, Italy | Super-G |
| 15 January 1992 | Error creating thumbnail: Hinterstoder, Austria | Giant slalom | |
| 20 January 1992 | Error creating thumbnail: Piancavallo, Italie | Giant slalom | |
| 27 January 1992 | France Morzine, France | Giant slalom | |
| 15 March 1992 | Error creating thumbnail: Panorama, Canada | Super-G | |
| 19 March 1992 | Switzerland Crans-Montana, Switzerland | Super-G | |
| 21 March 1992 | Giant slalom | ||
| 1993 | 5 January 1993 | Slovenia Maribor, Slovenia | Giant slalom |
| 10 January 1993 | Error creating thumbnail: Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italie | Giant slalom | |
| 28 February 1993 | Switzerland Veysonnaz, Switzerland | Super-G | |
| 27 March 1993 | Sweden Åre,Sweden | Giant slalom |
.svg){kind=link}
.svg){kind=link}
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:External_links at line 369: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Carole Merle at Ski-DB Alpine Ski DatabaseLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
.svg){kind=link}
.svg){kind=link}
.svg){kind=link}
- 1964 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
- Skiers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
- French female alpine skiers
- Olympic alpine skiers for France
- Olympic silver medalists for France
- Alpine skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics
- Alpine skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics
- Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics
- Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics
- Olympic medalists in alpine skiing
- FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions
- Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics
- 20th-century French sportswomen