Carole Merle

(Redirected from Carol Merle)

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]

Carole Merle
Personal information
Born (1964-01-24) 24 January 1964 (age 60)
Le Sauze [fr], Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France
OccupationAlpine skier
Skiing career
DisciplinesSuper-G, giant slalom
Downhill, combined
Retired1994
Olympics
Teams4 - (1984, 1988, 1992, 1994)
Medals1
World Championships
Teams4 - (1987, 1989, 1991, 1993)
Medals3 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons13 - (19821994)
Wins22 - (12 SG, 10 GS)
Overall titles0 - (2nd in 1992, 3rd in 1993)
Discipline titles6 - (4 SG, 2 GS)
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing  France
World Cup race podiums
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Giant slalom 10 2 7
Downhill 0 8 1
Super-G 12 2 2
Total 22 12 10
International competitionswwww
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 1 0
World Championships 1 2 0
World Junior Championships 0 0 1
European Junior Championships [de] 1 0 0
Total 2 3 1
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1992 Albertville SG
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1993 Morioka-Shizukuishi GS
Silver medal – second place 1989 Vail GS
Silver medal – second place 1991 Saalbach-Hinterglemm SG

Skiing career

edit

A native of Le Sauze [fr], 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

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

Season standings

edit
  • 6 titles – (4 SG, 2 GS)
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
  • 22 wins – (12 SG, 10 GS)
  • 44 podiums, 88 top tens
Season Date Location Race
1988 6 January 1988   Tignes, France Giant slalom
1989 26 November 1988   Schladming, Austria Super-G
14 January 1989     Grindelwald, Switzerland Super-G
20 January 1989   Tignes, France Super-G
1990 10 February 1990   Méribel, France Super-G
11 February 1990 Super-G
10 March 1990   Stranda, Norway Giant slalom
14 March 1990   Klövsjö, Sweden Giant slalom
16 March 1990   Åre, Sweden Super-G
1991 9 February 1991   Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Super-G
24 February 1991   Furano, Japan Super-G
1992 15 December 1991   Santa Caterina, Italy Super-G
15 January 1992   Hinterstoder, Austria Giant slalom
20 January 1992   Piancavallo, Italie Giant slalom
27 January 1992   Morzine, France Giant slalom
15 March 1992   Panorama, Canada Super-G
19 March 1992     Crans-Montana, Switzerland Super-G
21 March 1992 Giant slalom
1993 5 January 1993   Maribor, Slovenia Giant slalom
10 January 1993   Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italie Giant slalom
28 February 1993     Veysonnaz, Switzerland Super-G
27 March 1993   Åre,Sweden Giant slalom

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Carole Merle profile". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Que devient l'ancienne skieuse Carole Merle ?". Télé Loisirs (in French). 5 December 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  3. ^ Froissart, Lionel (18 December 1997). "Après l'or, Carole Merle en panne d'argent". Libération (in French). Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  4. ^ Gabai, Gabriel (8 February 2012). "Merle, grandeur nature". Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). Retrieved 9 March 2016.
edit