Zali Steggall
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's alpine skiing | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
1998 Nagano | Slalom |
| World Championships | ||
 |
1999 Vail | Slalom |
Zali Steggall, OAM (born 16 April 1974 in Sydney) is Australia's most internationally successful alpine skier, winning a bronze medal in slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, and a World Championship gold medal in 1999. She is Australia's first and so far only medalist in alpine skiing, first individual medalist for Australia and Australia's first female medalist. Steggall's long Olympic career extended from Albertville in 1992 to Salt Lake City in 2002. Later in her career Steggall was unable to fully adapt to the new slalom skis.
Born in Manly, New South Wales, she and her family lived in France from 1978 until 1988, and she started ski racing while living there, at the ski resort of Morzine in the French Alps. Her parents had intended to stay for only 18 months, but they liked the lifestyle so much that they stayed. She came from a sporting family; her grandfather played ten Tests for Australia in rugby union. She and elder brother Zeke grew up on the snow. Steggall won a European age championship at the age of 10, improved to be a member of the French junior skiing team at the age of 14. Steggall was educated in Sydney at the Queenwood School for Girls following the family's return to Australia.
Despite moving back to Australia, the Steggall siblings regularly travelled to the northern hemisphere to train. She was also sent overseas by the Australian Ski Institute to train under Austrian alpine coach Helmut Spiegl.
Steggall was selected to make her Olympic debut in Albertville in 1992, at the age of 18. She came 23rd out of 44 entries in the giant slalom event, and failed to finish the slalom or the combined event. At the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, the size of the field was scaled back. Steggall came 22nd out of 28 athletes in the slalom and 24th and last in the giant slalom. She withdrew from the super-G and was unplaced in the overall standings.
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