Andrea Mead Lawrence biography
Andrea Mead Lawrence, née Andrea Bario Mead, (born April 19, 1932, Rutland, Vermont, U.S.—died March 31, 2009, Mammoth Lakes, California), first American Alpine skier to win two gold medals in a single Winter Olympics. Her Olympic victories, coupled along with her U.S. championship titles within the downhill, slalom, and Alpine mixed in 1950, 1952, and 1955 and the large slalom in 1953, earned her a spot within the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame (inducted 1983).
Mead, whose dad and mom owned and managed a ski resort at Pico Peak, Vermont, all through her childhood, was launched to snowboarding on the age of three. Her ability stage superior quickly, and he or she certified for the 1948 Winter Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on the age of 15. Inexperience appeared to overhaul her innate expertise, nonetheless, as she fared poorly in her first Olympic look—eighth within the slalom, twenty first within the Alpine mixed, and thirty fifth within the downhill. Despite her low finishes, her potential was apparent. She got here into her personal in 1950, successful first place on the U.S. nationwide championships within the downhill, slalom, and mixed. The following yr she went on to win 10 worldwide occasions. Her profession peaked with two victories on the 1952 Olympics in Oslo. She simply gained the large slalom for her first gold medal. The second she captured within the slalom with a comeback efficiency. She had fallen throughout the first run however received up and managed to complete the course with the fourth finest time. Her second run was two seconds sooner than the remainder of the sector and vaulted her into first place. She returned to the Olympics in 1956 however did not earn a medal.
Mead married fellow skier David Lawrence, with whom she had 5 youngsters, in Switzerland in 1951; the couple divorced in 1967. After retiring from aggressive snowboarding, Lawrence taught snowboarding and have become energetic in environmental politics. In 2003 she established the Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers, a conservation group that centered on the japanese Sierra Nevada mountains. (The group was absorbed into one other environmental nonprofit upon Mead’s dying.)