Deborah Compagnoni, the snow queen stronger than pain

Career and successes

What a curriculum, that of Deborah Compagnoni. In a career that began in 1986, with the first junior competitions, and ended in 1999, Deborah conquered three golds and one silver at the Winter Olympics. Three golds at the World Championships. Sixteen World Cup victories with 44 podiums. Furthermore, in the best years of her competitive life, between 1994 and ’98, she hits all the trophies up for grabs. An extraordinary feat, especially in the light of the very heavy accidents you have suffered in your career. Accidents that could have stopped her forever considering that 30 years ago surgery wasn’t as advanced as it is now. An iron character with crystal knees. «Without these injuries – says her coach Chicco Cotelli – Deborah could have become very strong even in the Super Giant, enriching her palmarès even more. But this fragility of hers prevented us from engaging her in such specific and prolonged training sessions ».

Injuries, however, do not change his character. Always positive, always ready to readapt to any new situation. “When you get hurt, you have to be very patient. Take breaks, recover with due caution. But it’s not just a physical matter. The psychological aspect also counts. Never think you can’t make it. That everything goes against. You have to clear your head, maybe take care of other things. But I really like art, to paint. A passion that I have tried to nurture, even if in my second life, especially that of a mother, I have neglected it a bit. But now I’ve gotten a taste for it. I took courses to improve myself».

Here is the point. Great athletes, in the past but even more now, have to deal not only with the sport they practice, but also with their private life, often relegated to a dark corner of their lives, waiting for the stage lights to go down . Deborah Compagnoni, although great in skiing, has tried to balance her public life, as champion and blue testimonial, with her more private and familiar one. This too is a feat from the Guinness Book of Records, having linked up with an equally famous man, Alessandro Benetton, with whom, in almost 24 years of living together and 13 of marriage, she had three children, Agnese, Tobia, and Luce. An intense life too, which began immediately after his retirement from competitive activity.

Life after skiing

Yes, because “I didn’t expect to have to be more ‘athlete’ after retiring”, she explains. «So if I was tired I only answered to myself, in the family it’s instead a team game. Before I had a few hundredths of a second to win, then with the boys, especially when they were still small, 24 hours weren’t enough for me. When I stopped competing, I put everything aside. I’m telling the truth: I was tired of that kind of life, not so much of skiing but of having to listen to everyone, sponsors in particular, who even in skiing, while necessary, direct your business. I still would have had the pleasure of measuring myself, as I now have the pleasure of having a good hike, but not like this. The only thing I have been continuously involved in, after the death of my cousin Barbara, is charity, founding the philanthropic association “Sciare per la Vita” in 2006, dedicated to the fight against leukemia. Now I am ambassador of Milano-Cortina 2026. The project that I will follow the most is the sustainability of the Italian Games. The starting point is for the Games to finance themselves with contributions from the Olympic Committee, sponsors and the sale of marketing rights. In essence, the Olympics must not weigh on taxpayers and then leave something positive for the community. Not useless structures that degrade in abandonment. But now we must proceed. Because three years go by very quickly».

The toughest trials

Many satisfactions in Deborah’s life. A life however that, even after her retirement, she hasn’t spared her other traumas, fractures that are more difficult to heal and still hurt. The death of his brother Jacopo, just over a year ago, was a blow. A cold stab. She was an experienced guide, she knew the breath of the mountains well, but an avalanche carried it away while she was ski touring. «He was only 40 years old, he was the little one of the house. A loss that I had a hard time metabolizing. When I have a free morning, I take the skins and go on skis where no one can reach, in the pristine snow where I feel closest to him».