Gina Hathorn

The daughter of a wealthy banker who owned a chalet in Sankt Moritz, Gina Hathorn had plenty of opportunity to practice her love of skiing as a youngster. She started skiing at the age of five and soon showed a natural talent. At just 13 she won the 1960 British junior championship after winning the downhill and coming second in the slalom. She followed that by winning the Junior Kandahar Trophy in 1961 and then the overall title at the 1962 Commonwealth Winter Games at Sankt Moritz.

By the mid-1960s, Hathorn had developed into one of the world’s best slalom skiers and in 1966 she captured the senior British title. The following year she enjoyed her finest sporting moment. Taking part in a World Cup race at Grindewald, Switzerland on 10 January 1967, Hathorn finished in second place, just 3/10ths of a second behind world slalom champion Annie Famose of France, with the future double Olympic gold medallists Marielle Goitschell in fourth place. It was regarded as one of the finest modern-day performances by a British skier. Hathorn competed in the Ski World Cup for six seasons between 1966-72 and that was her only podium finish despite 22 slalom and giant slalom top 10 finishes.

At the 1968 Winter Olympics at Grenoble, Hathorn came within 3/100ths of a second of becoming the first Briton, male or female, to win an Olympic Alpine skiing medal as she lost out on a bronze medal, again to Famose. Hathorn´s best World Championship result was at Gardena in 1970 when she finished 10th in the slalom. She bowed out of competitive skiing after her third Winter Olympics in 1972 and went into partnership with her teammate Divina Galica to run a shop in Chelsea selling ski clothing.

Hathorn married powerboat racer Tommy Sopwith in 1977. He was the heir to the fortune of the aviation pioneer Sir Thomas Sopwith. Guests at the wedding included HRH Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth, and Prince Charles, later King Charles III. Charles and Gina often skied together.