Manuela Di Centa


Manuela Di Centa is a former Italian cross-country skier and Olympic athlete. She is the sister of former cross-country skier Giorgio Di Centa and cousin of former track and field athlete Venanzio Ortis.

Career

Di Centa, born in Paluzza, province of Udine, to a family of Nordic skiers, made her debut on the Italian national team in 1980 at the age of 17, skied with the G.S. Forestale. Two years later, she competed at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo finishing in eighth place. After a quarrel with the president of the Italian Skiing Federation, Di Centa left the national team, not returning until 1986.
At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, she finished sixth in the 20 km freestyle. She won her first medals in international competition at the 1991 World Championships in Val di Fiemme: a silver and two bronzes. An Olympic medal followed in 1992, a bronze in the 4 × 5 km relay. In 1993, at the Falun World Championships, she won two more silvers. At the 1995 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, she won another silver and a bronze.
Di Centa also became Italian national champion in fell running in 1985, 1989 and 1991.
Di Centa seemed confined to the role of the eternal second, but this changed abruptly at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, where she medaled in all five cross-country events: two gold, two silver and one bronze medal. The same year she also won her first aggregate Cross-Country Skiing World Cup, a feat she repeated in 1996.
In 1996 she was the first Italian cross-country skier to receive the Holmenkollen Medal. Her last title was a bronze at the 1998 Winter Olympics in the 4 × 5 km relay.
After retiring, Di Centa worked for Italian television, and became a member of the Italian and International Olympic Committees.
Di Centa became the first Italian woman to climb Mount Everest in 2003.
Di Centa is the first Italian woman to compete at five Olympics, which she did from 1984 to 1998.
Her younger brother Giorgio is currently a member of the Italian national cross-country ski team and was the winner of two gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
At the 2018 Winter Olympics di Centa was inducted into the Olympians for Life project.

2006 Winter Olympics

As a member of the International Olympic Committee and the Italian National Olympic Committee and as one of Italy's most accomplished Winter Olympic athletes, Di Centa played a prominent public role in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She was one of the eight flag bearers during the Opening Ceremonies. At the Closing Ceremonies, she participated in the awarding of medals to the winners of the men's 50 km cross-country race. Coincidentally, the gold medal winner was her younger brother Giorgio.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation.

Olympic Games

Year Age 5 km 10 km
classical 		10 km
freestyle 		15 km Pursuit 20 km 30 km 4 × 5 km
relay
198218817——
19892587—56
199127Bronze4—BronzeSilver
1993291054SilverSilver
199531Bronze—4Silver4
1997333412—4

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlace
1 1988–89 13 January 1989 Klingenthal, East Germany10 km Individual CWorld Cup2nd
2 1988–89 11 March 1989 Falun, Sweden15 km Individual FWorld Cup3rd
31989–9018 February 1990 Pontresina, Switzerland15 km Individual FWorld Cup1st
41989–907 March 1990 Sollefteå, Sweden30 km Individual FWorld Cup1st
51989–9010 March 1990 Örnsköldsvik, Sweden10 km Individual CWorld Cup2nd
6 1990–91 12 February 1991 Val di Fiemme, Italy5 km Individual CWorld Championships3rd
7 1990–91 16 February 1991 Val di Fiemme, Italy30 km Individual FWorld Championships3rd
8 1990–91 10 March 1991 Örnsköldsvik, Sweden15 km Individual FWorld Cup2nd
9 1990–91 16 March 1991 Oslo, Norway5 km Individual FWorld Cup2nd
10 1992–93 27 February 1993 Falun, Sweden30 km Individual FWorld Championships2nd
11 1992–93 6 March 1993 Lahti, Finland5 km Individual FWorld Cup2nd
12 1992–93 9 March 1993 Lillehammer, Norway5 km Individual CWorld Cup3rd
13 1992–93 10 March 1993 Lillehammer, Norway10 km Pursuit FWorld Cup2nd
14 1992–93 10 March 1993 Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia10 km Individual CWorld Cup3rd
15 1993–94 18 December 1993 Davos, Switzerland10 km Individual FWorld Cup3rd
16 1993–94 21 December 1993 Toblach, Italy15 km Individual CWorld Cup1st
17 1993–94 15 January 1994 Oslo, Norway15 km Individual FWorld Cup2nd
18 1993–94 13 February 1994 Lillehammer, Norway15 km Individual FOlympic Games1st
19 1993–94 15 February 1994 Lillehammer, Norway5 km Individual COlympic Games2nd
20 1993–94 17 February 1994 Lillehammer, Norway10 km Pursuit FOlympic Games2nd
21 1993–94 24 February 1994 Lillehammer, Norway30 km Individual CFOlympic Games1st
22 1993–94 6 March 1994 Lahti, Finland30 km Individual FWorld Cup1st
23 1993–94 12 March 1994 Falun, Sweden10 km Individual FWorld Cup1st
24 1993–94 20 March 1994 Thunder Bay, Canada10 km Pursuit FWorld Cup1st
25 1994–95 12 March 1995 Thunder Bay, Canada5 km Individual CWorld Championships3rd
26 1994–95 18 March 1995 Thunder Bay, Canada30 km Individual FWorld Championships2nd
27 1995–96 9 December 1995 Davos, Switzerland5 km Individual FWorld Cup3rd
28 1995–96 9 January 1996 Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia30 km Individual FWorld Cup1st
29 1995–96 18 March 1995 Nové Město, Czech Republic10 km Individual CWorld Cup2nd
30 1995–96 2 February 1996 Seefeld, Austria5 km Individual FWorld Cup1st
31 1995–96 11 February 1996 Kavgolovo, Russia10 km Individual CWorld Cup1st
32 1995–96 24 February 1996 Trondheim, Norway5 km Individual CWorld Cup1st
33 1995–96 25 February 1996 Trondheim, Norway10 km Pursuit FWorld Cup1st
34 1995–96 2 March 1996 Lahti, Finland10 km Individual FWorld Cup1st
35 1995–96 9 March 1996 Falun, Sweden15 km Individual FWorld Cup1st

Team podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammate
1 1990–91 15 February 1991 Val di Fiemme, Italy4 × 5 km Relay C/FWorld Championships2ndVanzetta / Paruzzi / Belmondo
2 1991–92 18 February 1992 Albertville, France4 × 5 km Relay C/FOlympic Games3rdVanzetta / Paruzzi / Belmondo
3 1992–93 26 February 1993 Falun, Sweden4 × 5 km Relay C/FWorld Championships2ndVanzetta / Paruzzi / Belmondo
4 1993–94 22 February 1994 Lillehammer, Norway4 × 5 km Relay C/FOlympic Games3rdVanzetta / Paruzzi / Belmondo
5 1995–96 17 December 1995 Santa Caterina, Italy4 × 5 km Relay CWorld Cup2ndPaluselli / Belmondo / Paruzzi
6 1995–96 14 January 1996 Nové Město, Czech Republic4 × 5 km Relay CWorld Cup3rdPaluselli / Belmondo / Paruzzi
7 1995–96 3 February 1996 Seefeld, Austria6 × 1.5 km Team Sprint FWorld Cup1stBelmondo
8 1995–96 10 March 1996 Falun, Sweden4 × 5 km Relay C/FWorld Cup3rdGiacomuzzi / Dal Sasso / Belmondo
9 1997–98 14 December 1997 Val di Fiemme, Italy4 × 5 km Relay FWorld Cup2ndParuzzi / Valbusa / Belmondo

Note: Until the 1999 World Championships and the 1994 Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

National titles

Manuela Di Centa, who has been vice-president of the National Council of the Italian National Olympic Committee until 2006, is also involved in politics and was a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Forza Italia, between 2006 and 2013. She became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1999 and remained there until 2010.

Doping allegations

The Swedish investigative television program Uppdrag granskning claimed that Di Centa had an exceptionally high hemoglobin level prior to a World Cup in Lahti in 1997. Di Centa's hemoglobin value was measured in an official pre-competition test as high as 17.3 g/dL. The allowed limit to start in official FIS competition is 16.5 g/dL.