— Alpine skier — | ||||||||||||||||
David and Andrea Lawrence at the 1956 Olympics
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Disciplines |
Downhill, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined |
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Club | Pico Peak Ski Club | |||||||||||||||
Born |
Rutland County, Vermont, U.S. |
April 19, 1932|||||||||||||||
Died | March 30, 2009 Mammoth Lakes, California |
(aged 76)|||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | |||||||||||||||
Olympics | ||||||||||||||||
Teams | 3 – (1948, 1952, 1956) | |||||||||||||||
Medals | 2 (2 gold) | |||||||||||||||
World Championships | ||||||||||||||||
Teams | 4 – (1948, 1950, 1952, 1956) includes 3 Olympics |
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Medals | 2 (2 gold) | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Andrea Mead Lawrence (April 19, 1932 – March 30, 2009) was an American alpine ski racer. She competed in three Winter Olympics (and two world championships) and was the first American alpine skier to win two Olympic gold medals.
Mead was born in Rutland County, Vermont, to an alpine skiing family that owned and operated the Pico Peak ski area. At age 14 she made the national team, and at age 15 competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where she placed eighth in the slalom, and sixth at the 1950 World Championships in Aspen.
At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, she was selected as captain of the U.S. women's team at age 19. She won both the slalom and the giant slalom events. She succeeded Gretchen Fraser, who had won gold in the slalom in 1948, as the top American woman ski racer. She also competed at the 1956 Winter Olympics, placing fourth in the giant slalom. Between the 1952 and 1956 Olympics, she gave birth to three children, and was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1958 and carried the torch at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, passed it to America gold medalist speed skater Ken Henry, who circled the ice rink then ascended the Tribune of Honor and ignited the Olympic flame.