Leonardo David

{{Short description|Italian alpine skier}} {{Infobox alpine ski racer | name = Leonardo David | image = Leonardo David.jpg | image_size = 240 | caption = | disciplines = [[Slalom skiing|Slalom]], [[giant slalom]], [[Downhill (ski competition)|downhill]] | club = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1960|09|27|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Gressoney-Saint-Jean]], [[Aosta Valley]], [[Italy]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|02|26|1960|09|27|df=y}} | death_place = [[Gressoney-La-Trinité]], Aosta Valley, Italy | height =  | wcdebut = 1978 | retired = | website = | olympicteams = 0 | olympicmedals = | olympicgolds = | worldsteams = 0 | worldsmedals = | worldsgolds = | wcseasons = 1 – ([[1979 Alpine Skiing World Cup|1979]]) | wcwins = 1 – (1 [[Slalom skiing|SL]]) | wcpodiums = 4 – (1 [[Giant slalom|GS]], 3 SL) | wcoveralls = 0 – ''(11th in [[1979 Alpine Skiing World Cup|1979]])'' | wctitles = 0 – ''(8th in [[Slalom skiing|SL]], [[1979 Alpine Skiing World Cup|1979]])'' | show-medals = yes | medals =  }}

'''Leonardo David''' (27 September 1960<ref name=fis>{{FIS|S=AL|ID=12474}}</ref> – 26 February 1985) was a [[FIS Alpine Ski World Cup|World Cup]] [[Alpine skiing|alpine ski racer]] from [[Northwest Italy|northwestern]] [[Italy]].

==Biography== Born in [[Gressoney-Saint-Jean]], [[Aosta Valley]], he died of [[heart failure]] in [[Gressoney-La-Trinité]] after nearly six years in a [[coma]], caused by injuries he sustained in a fall near [[Lake Placid, New York|Lake Placid]], [[New York (state)|New York]], on 3 March [[1979 Alpine Skiing World Cup|1979]].<ref name=aswiri>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rYwyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JecFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6592%2C414035 |newspaper=Lawrence Journal-World |agency=Associated Press |title=Austrian skier wins; Italian racer injured |date=March 4, 1979 |page=5B}}</ref><ref name=nytcma>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/28/sports/italian-skier-hurt-in-79-fall-dies-after-5-years-in-coma.html|newspaper=New York Times |title=Italian skier hurt in '79 fall dies after 5 years in coma |agency=UPI |date=February 28, 1985 |accessdate=January 30, 2014}}</ref><ref name=sdsyac>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JIoxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sKUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1232%2C3327902|newspaper=Montreal Gazette |agency=Associated Press |title=Skier dies six years after crash |date=Feb 28, 1985 |page=E-5 }}</ref>

David fell a few meters before the finish of the pre-[[Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics|Olympic]] [[downhill (ski competition)|downhill]] at [[Whiteface Mountain]]. He slid mostly on his back and his skis remained on. After coming to a stop, David arose and skied over to his coach, bent down to remove his skis, and collapsed. He was airlifted by military helicopter to [[Burlington, Vermont]],<ref name=fwkstic>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zc5aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QXwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1850%2C6475487 |newspaper=St Petersburg Times |title=Italian skier still in coma |date=March 31, 1979 |page=9C}}</ref> where surgeons removed a blood clot in his brain.<ref name=aswiri/>

He had fallen two weeks earlier, in the downhill race of the Italian national championships at [[Cortina d'Ampezzo]], and a friend reported David had complained of ongoing headaches since.<ref name=sialp>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=emEaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mSkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5374%2C1560913 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |title=Skier injured at Lake Placid |agency= AP and UPI |date=March 4, 1979 |page=10 }}</ref> He had been examined by a [[Neurosurgery|neurosurgeon]],<ref name=threemd>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=T0lOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_BMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2904%2C5547321 |newspaper=Wilmington (NC) Morning Star |title=3 doctors indicted |date=August 29, 1990 |page=2B }}</ref> but was allowed to join the Italian team for the conclusion of the World Cup season in North America and Japan.<ref name=ptpisd>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oY9TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pYYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6851%2C4544258 |newspaper=Bend (OR) Bulletin |agency=UPI |title=Panel to probe Italian skier's death |date=November 24, 1985 |page=E-7 }}</ref>

Then age 18, David was a promising talent on the Italian team, in his first year on the World Cup circuit. He won the overall and slalom titles of the European Cup in 1978, and placed second in giant slalom. He won his only World Cup race, a slalom in [[Oslo]], less than a month before his accident, outpacing [[Ingemar Stenmark]] and [[Phil Mahre]].<ref name=idslwn>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Cr4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T-4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2851%2C2004360 |newspaper=Ottawa Citizen |agency=UPI |title=Italy's David slalom winner |date=February 8, 1979 |page=24 }}</ref><ref name=iycs>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GwY1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=S08KAAAAIBAJ&pg=2963%2C2706894 |newspaper=Bangor (ME) Daily News |agency=UPI |title=Italian youth captures slalom |page=20}}</ref> David had 10 top ten finishes with four podiums during the [[1979 Alpine Skiing World Cup|1979]] World Cup season, and finished in 11th place in the overall standings with 85 points.

After nearly three months in a coma in Burlington,<ref name=fwkstic/> David was flown to Italy on a special U.S. military transport in late May, and hospitalized in [[Novara]].<ref name=itsinh>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JIgwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TOAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3291%2C8446418 |newspaper=Schenectady Gazette |agency=Associated Press |title=Italian skier, still in coma, now home |date=May 24, 1979 |page=43 }}</ref> In late July, David was flown to [[Innsbruck]], [[Austria]],<ref name=edrcdsm>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZVhUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4Y4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4639%2C1746822 |newspaper=Ellensburg Daily Record |title=Skier moved |agency=UPI |date=July 26, 1979 |page=9 }}</ref><ref name=idsrmd>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pccsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OhMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2573%2C241420 |newspaper=Wilmington (NC) Morning Star |title=Injured skier moved |date=August 1, 1979 |page=4C }}</ref> for intensified treatment and was thought to be emerging from the coma in September.<ref name=sptout>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=m1sxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eaQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4485%2C2035732 |newspaper=Montreal Gazette |agency=Reuters |title=Skier coming out of coma |date=September 22, 1979 |page=10 }}</ref> More than three years later, he was taken to [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]] (St. Petersburg) in the [[Soviet Union]] for a last-ditch effort to revive him in December 1982.<ref name=stpete>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0QowAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PKUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6091%2C2816518 |newspaper=Montreal Gazette |agency=[[Agence France-Presse|AFP]] |title=Skier still in coma |date=December 16, 1982 |page=D12 }}</ref> He died at home in February 1985 of an apparent heart attack.<ref name=sdsyac/> In 1990, three physicians were indicted on manslaughter charges in Italy on the grounds that David should not have been allowed to compete after his fall at Cortina d'Ampezzo.<ref name=threemd/>

David's parents run a small ski shop at Gressoney and it is kept as a small museum in memory of their son. Visitors can see his skis, Italian ski team posters on the shop roof showing him, with [[Piero Gros]], and [[Gustav Thöni]] among others, all his trophies and some pictures. At the front wall of the parish church in Gressoney-Saint-Jean a memorial plaque is dedicated to David, and a racing [[piste]] is named after him in [[Gressoney-Saint-Jean|Gressoney Saint Jean]].<ref>{{cite web|title=…dal 1959 : la storia di David Sport|url=http://www.dmsistemi.it/davidsport/storia/|website=David Spaort|accessdate=4 August 2017}}</ref>

==World Cup results==

===Season standings=== {| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" ! Season !! Age !! Overall !! Slalom !! Giant  Slalom !! Super G !! Downhill !!Combined |- | [[1979 Alpine Skiing World Cup|1979]] || ''18'' || 11 || 8 || 15 ||''not run'' || — || — |} *Points were only awarded for top ten finishes (see [[FIS Alpine Ski World Cup#Scoring system|scoring system]]).

===Race podiums=== * 1 win (1 [[Slalom skiing|SL]]) * 4 podiums (1 [[Giant slalom|GS]], 3 SL), 10 top tens (5 GS, 5 SL) {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%;" ! Season ! Date ! Location ! Discipline ! Place |- | rowspan=4|'''[[1979 Alpine Skiing World Cup|1979]]''' || align=right|9 Dec 1978 ||align=left|{{flagicon|AUT}} [[Planai|Schladming]], [[Austria]] || [[Giant slalom]] || 3rd |- | align=right|21 Dec 1978 ||align=left|{{flagicon|SLO}} [[Kranjska Gora]], [[Slovenia]] || [[Slalom skiing|Slalom]] || 3rd |- | align=right|5 Feb 1979 ||align=left|{{flagicon|TCH}} [[Jasná]], [[Czechoslovakia]] || Slalom || 2nd |- | bgcolor="#BOEOE6" align=right|7 Feb 1979 ||align=left|{{flagicon|NOR}} [[Oslo]], [[Norway]] || bgcolor="#BOEOE6"|Slalom || bgcolor="#BOEOE6"|'''1st''' |}

==Video== *{{YouTube|JkoY3P6-et0|Racing footage of Leonardo David, including final fall}}

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{sports links}} * {{Ski-DB|leonardo_david_ita_dvdle}} * [http://www.sportvintage.it/2009/06/16/leonardo-david-discesa-in-paradiso/ Sport Vintage] – Leonardo David – ''{{in lang|it}}''

{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Leonardo}} [[Category:1960 births]] [[Category:1985 deaths]] [[Category:Skiing deaths]] [[Category:Sport deaths in Italy]] [[Category:Skiers from Aosta Valley]] [[Category:Italian male alpine skiers]] [[Category:People with disorders of consciousness]] [[Category:People with traumatic brain injuries]] [[Category:People from Gressoney-Saint-Jean]] [[Category:20th-century Italian sportsmen]]