Giorgio Rocca - Biography

Biography

Rocca made his debut in the Alpine Skiing World Cup on January 6, 1996, at Flachau. However, Rocca broke his right knee and was forced off the tour for a year. In March 1997 he scored his first point-scoring result in the Cup, at the Shigakogen slalom. He scored his first top ten finish in November 1998, at the Aspen slalom.

One year later Rocca finally managed to be on the podium, scoring a third place in the renowned Kitzbühel slalom. In 1999 he won the bronze medal at the Alpine World Skiing Championships in Vail. Rocca began to be considered the legitimate heir of Italy's unrivalled champion of all-time, Alberto Tomba, who had just retired. This responsibility however, seemed to crush Rocca and stunted his progress, together with another knee accident.

After two difficult seasons, in 2001 Rocca was again on the podium, with second places in Aspen and Madonna di Campiglio. In January 2003, after another 2nd in the Sestriere slalom, Rocca finally won his first World Cup race on the Lauberhorn Run in Switzerland. In 2004 Rocca definitively became as a major force in slalom racing. In that season he obtained two victories at Chamonix and Flachau, and two bronze medals at his home World Championship in Bormio, in the slalom and the combined.

Rocca won again in February 2005, this time at Kranjska Gora, and raced for a while for the final victory in the Slalom World Cup.

Rocca started the 2005/2006 season with an impressive series of five wins a row in the first five slalom races. He explained his notable improvements from a psychological point of view, as he has taken advantage of the help of a team of psychologists to solve the alleged fragility that had thwarted him in past seasons.

Rocca currently lives in Livigno. In his career he copeted for C.S. Carabinieri.

He recited the Olympic oath at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. It was at these Olympics that he was hoping to win gold in his strongest event: slalom, after his great success in the world championships, so he decided to focus on this event. He did not enter the Giant Slalom or Super-G as originally planned, however he did compete in the Combined race where he placed 5th with a total time of 3:10.74. In the Slalom he was the first starter but with so much pressure on him as the favourite, he stradled at the second gate, throwing away his chances of being champion.