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Doris De Agostini was an exceptional skier and remained humble. Only once did he overestimate his charisma when he succumbed to a mistake. An obituary.
Doris De Agostini (center) wins the descent on the Stoos at the Swiss Alpine Skiing Championships in February 1983, ahead of Michela Figini (left) and Brigitte Oertli.
There was a time when everything was a little quieter without a mobile phone or satellite navigation system. The ski journalists were happy to stop for lunch at the “Black Eagle” in St. Anton am Arlberg on the way to their races. One winter day a car with a Swiss license plate and a ski company advertisement pulled up in the parking lot, and shortly afterwards a young Graubünden at the press table asked: “Am I right here, headed for Garmisch?” This blond boy was in the company of a thin teenager, half head taller: Fritz Züger, Doris De Agostini’s service man at the time, went to the women’s World Cup in the Bavarian station with his talented Ticino skier.
The future coach of the World Cup must have arrived on time. How her newcomer to the World Cup behaved, in a slalom, cannot be determined in the statistics, but one way or another it was much more important: Doris De Agostini, the teenager from Airolo, became a name familiar in ski races for the next seven years, not in slalom, but in downhill. The woman, who seemed to consist mainly of long legs and arms that she stretched sideways up the slope like the rotors of a helicopter to keep her balance, celebrated many great successes in a few years.
Sad after feeling
His career went from zero to one hundred in his first World Cup season: in January 1976, less than two weeks before the Olympic Games in Innsbruck, he unexpectedly achieved his first win in Bad Gastein. In that race the time went from snow and fog to bright sun, then unknown Swiss Doris De Agostini and Marlies Oberholzer took 1st and 2nd place, favorite Marie-Theres Nadig – in bad condition – classified in 4th place. With Bernadette Zurbriggen, also established, Nadig railed and cursed after the race, against the officials and her young compatriot, the winner, who was crying at the finish line and sobbing: “It’s not my fault that I won”.
With a gap of 30 seconds, the starting number 1 of the race landed in the rearmost regions of the ranking and laughed at the finish and said: “This is how skiing can be”. It was the German Rosi Mittermaier. A few days later she became Olympic champion in downhill.
Like so many “casuals”, Doris De Agostini, the first Ticino woman to make a sensation in the Ski World Cup, verified that Bad Gastein was not directed by pure chance. And from then on, it was really unthinkable that anyone could be angry with her. “He was the loveliest person imaginable,” recalls Hanni Wenzel, the Swiss ski team from Liechtenstein, who often shared a room with De Agostini, “and so it was with everyone.” The two met regularly even after their careers, even on the edge of the tennis courts where their children went wild.
One liter of milk, four croissants
Doris De Agostini was tall and slender to the end. During her time in business she would have liked to gain a little more power, “she always ate a lot”, recalls Wenzel, “sometimes she drank a liter of milk for breakfast and ate four croissants with it.” But De Agostini remained thin, “while I was just gaining weight by watching”.
The merits that De Agostini must reserve are wonderful: eight victories in the World Cup, a bronze medal at the World Championships and in 1983, in her last season, winning the Downhill World Cup and being elected Swiss Sportswoman of the Year – she is a however, star never became. He could have advertised himself more strongly, but it wouldn’t have suited his reserved ways. He did not seem to be aware of its impact on the surrounding environment. He gave everything on the slopes and also constantly guarded his private life. Boulevard didn’t even have to ask for bikini competitions with Swiss athletes, not least because her boyfriend and future husband, ice hockey player Luca Rossetti, would have turned down such requests.
Only once did he overestimate his charisma: when De Agostini returned home after his victory in Bad Gastein, a band was playing in Airolo and fireworks lit up the night sky. But now it was an exaggeration, it was not necessary, he thought at that moment, he said later. However, the festival was not held in his honor, but on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the turning of the Gotthard tunnel.
Doris De Agostini passed away on Sunday at the age of 62 after a serious illness.
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