50 years | Janica Kostelić | FIS Alpine

Born in Zagreb, Croatia, on Jan. 5th, 1982, Janica Kostelić grew up into a winter sports family, Kostelić's father Ante was also her trainer and older brother Ivica is a ski racer in his own right, the 2011 overall World Cup champion. She made her World Cup debut in the 1997/1998 season in a SuperG race in Cortina and the Croatian teen sensation began to receive international attention during the 1998/1999 season as she claimed her first World Cup victory in the combined event held in St. Anton, Austria. Kostelić then suffered knee ligament damage which kept her out of competition until late 2000. Overcoming injury and adversity again, Kostelić made history at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, by becoming the first Croatian to win a Winter Games medal and the first skier to win four Alpine skiing medals (three golds and one silver) at a single Olympics. Four years later in Turin she added a gold medal in the combined, her fourth Olympic title, making her the most successful female skier in the history of the Olympic Games. Kostelić' also collected five golds at the World Championships: two in 2003 at St. Moritz and three top spots at the 2005 edition in Bormio. She won 30 races in a 7-year span en route to thee overall World Cup titles: 2001, 2003 and 2006. In 2005 she finished as runner-up, just three points adrift Sweden's Anja Pärson. On Jan. 15, 2006, Kostelić became only the third woman in World Cup history (after Swede Wiberg and Austrian Kronberger to win World Cup races in all of the sport's five disciplines. On Feb. 2006 she reached another milestone by becoming the second female skier (after Petra Kronberger) to win all five disciplines in one season. Tired of fighting injuries and after undergoing knee surgery 10 times, Janica Kostelić finally decided to hang up skis in 2007. For further information about FIS Alpine visit: http://www.fis-ski.com/alpine-skiing/ Follow us on Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/fisalpine https://twitter.com/fisalpine https://www.instagram.com/fisalpine