Giorgio Di Centa

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Giorgio Di Centa, Tour de Ski, Prague 2007
Giorgio Di Centa, Tour de Ski, Prague 2007
Medal record
Men's cross country skiing
Olympic Games
Gold 2006 Turin 4 x 10 km
Gold 2006 Turin 50 km
Silver 2002 Salt Lake City 4 x 10 km
World Championships
Silver 2005 Oberstdorf 15 km + 15 km double pursuit
Bronze 1997 Trondheim 4 x 10 km
Bronze 1999 Ramsau 4 x 10 km

Giorgio Di Centa (October 7, 1972, Tolmezzo, province of Udine) is an Italian cross country skier who won two gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics, including the individual 50 km freestyle race. He is brother to Olympic gold medalist cross country skier Manuela Di Centa.

Giorgio Di Centa began to practice cross country skiing very early, in a family in which his elder brother Andrea was also a professional skier. At the age of 16 he became a member of the Junior team of Italy, practicing for the Carabinieri sport team. In 1995 he entered the Senior team of Italy. He finished 8th in the 30km event at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

After a silver medal at the 2005 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in the double pursuit and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in the 4 x 10 km.

Di Centa, who had never won an individual race in the cross country skiing World Cup, arrived in great shape for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. He would finish a disappointing fourth in the 30 km double pursuit, losing a medal at the finish to fellow Italian Pietro Piller Cottrer. The two were also key players in the strongest Italian relay team ever, winning gold in the 4 x 10 km race.

Di Centa's greatest victory was in the 50 km race where he defeated Russian Eugeni Dementiev by 0.8 seconds, the closest 50 km event in Olympic history, eclipsing Thomas Wassberg's 4.9 second victory over Gunde Svan (both Sweden) at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

The medals ceremony for the 50 km occurred during the Closing Ceremony where Di Centa's sister, Olympic medalist Manuela Di Centa, presented him with the gold medal.

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Olympic champions in men's 50 km cross country
1924: Thorleif Haug * 1928: Per Erik Hedlund * 1932: Veli Saarinen * 1936: Elis Wiklund * 1948: Nils Karlsson * 1952: Veikko Hakulinen * 1956: Sixten Jernberg * 1960: Kalevi Hämäläinen * 1964: Sixten Jernberg * 1968: Ole Ellefsæter * 1972: Pål Tyldum * 1976: Ivar Formo * 1980: Nikolay Zimyatov * 1984: Thomas Wassberg * 1988: Gunde Svan * 1992: Bjørn Dæhlie * 1994: Vladimir Smirnov * 1998: Bjørn Dæhlie * 2002: Mikhail Ivanov * 2006: Giorgio Di Centa
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Olympic champions in men's 4 x 10 km cross country relay
1936 Finland - Sulo Nurmela, Klaes Karppinen, Matti Lähde, & Kalle Jalkanen * 1948 Sweden - Nils Östensson, Nils Täpp, Gunnar Eriksson, & Martin Lundström * 1952 Finland - Heikki Hasu, Paavo Lonkila, Urpo Korhonen, & Tapio Mäkelä * 1956 Soviet Union - Fyodor Terentyev, Pavel Kolchin, Nikolay Anikin, & Vladimir Kuzin * 1960 Finland - Toimi Alatalo, Eero Mäntyranta, Väinö Huhtala, & Veikko Hakulinen * 1964 Sweden - Karl-Åke Asph, Sixten Jernberg, Janne Stefansson, & Assar Rönnlund * 1968 Norway - Odd Martinsen, Pål Tyldum, Harald Grønningen, & Ole Ellefsæter * 1972 Soviet Union - Vladimir Voronkov, Yuri Skobov, Fyodor Simashev, & Vyacheslav Vedenin * 1976 Finland - Matti Pitkänen, Juha Mieto, Pertti Teurajärvi, & Arto Koivisto * 1980 Soviet Union - Vasily Rochev, Nikolay Bazhukov, Yevgeny Belyayev, & Nikolay Zimyatov * 1984 Sweden - Thomas Wassberg, Benny Tord Kohlberg, Jan Ottosson, & Gunde Svan * 1988 Sweden - Jan Ottosson, Thomas Wassberg, Gunde Svan & Torgny Mogren * 1992 Norway - Terje Langli, Vegard Ulvang, Kristen Skjeldal & Bjørn Dæhlie * 1994 Italy - Maurilio De Zolt, Marco Albarello, Giorgio Vanzetta & Silvio Fauner * 1998 Norway - Sture Sivertsen, Erling Jevne, Bjørn Dæhlie, & Thomas Alsgaard * 2002 Norway - Anders Aukland, Frode Estil, Kristen Skjeldal, & Thomas Alsgaard * 2006 Italy - Fulvio Valbusa, Giorgio di Centa, Pietro Piller Cottrer, & Cristian Zorzi