Danièle Debernard

Danièle Debernard was only 17 when she was selected for the French team at the 1972 Sapporo Olympics, but she came through with a silver medal in the slalom. She also competed at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics in all three alpine events, adding a bronze medal in the giant slalom, and that year she was second in the combined event at Innsbruck, considered a World Championship event, but not an Olympic one. In that era, the Winter Olympics were considered World Championships, and those three medals were her only ones at the Worlds. Her best World Cup finish was fifth overall for the 1975-76 season, during which she won her only two World Cup races, a giant slalom in Berchtesgaden, and a slalom in Les Gets. Debernard was a three-time French champion winning the downhill in 1976 and the giant slalom in 1972 and 1976. Her best finish in an Arlberg-Kandahar race was third in a slalom in 1971 at Mürren. Debernard’s cousin, Jean-Luc Crétier, later won the 1998 Olympic downhill race.