Wiberg, Pernilla (1970—)

Swedish Alpine skier . Pronunciation: per-NEEL-ah VEE-berg. Born in Norkoping, Sweden, on October 15, 1970.

Won a gold medal in the giant slalom at the World championships in Saalbach, Austria (1991); won an Olympic gold medal in the giant slalom at Albertville (1992); finished 2nd overall in the World Cup standings and 2nd in the slalom (1993–94); won an Olympic gold medal in the combined at Lillehammer (1994); finished 10th in World Cup downhill standings (1995–96); won the gold in the slalom and combined in the World championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain (1996); registered eight World Cup victories (five in the slalom, two in the super G, and one in the downhill, 1996–97); won her first overall crown and set a single-season record for most World Cup points in the final World Cup standings—1,960 (1997–98).

Swedish Alpine skier Pernilla Wiberg won a gold medal in the giant slalom at Albertville in 1992 with a time of 2:12.74. Diann Roffe of the U.S.A. came in second; Anita Wachter of Austria came in third. Two years later, Wiberg won her second Olympic medal with a gold in the combined at Lillehammer, despite a great final run by second-place winner Vreni Schneider . Third place Alenka Dovzan , who won the first medal for newly independent Slovenia, caused jubilation back home. Wiberg, who has won a World Cup victory in every discipline—downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined—had a rough Olympics at Nagano in 1998. Coming in as the defending world cup overall and slalom champion, she fell in the slalom and the combined. She regrouped and took the silver in the downhill, finishing behind Katja Seizinger .