Manuela Di Centa

Manuela Di Centa
Di Centa (left) in 2008
Born	(1963-01-31) 31 January 1963 (age 54) Paluzza, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Height	164 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Ski club	G.S. Forestale
World Cup career
Seasons	1982-1998
Individual wins	15
Indiv. podiums	35
Overall titles	2 (1993/94, 1995/96)
Medal record Women's cross-country skiing Representing  Italy Olympic Games 1994 Lillehammer 15 km 1994 Lillehammer 30 km 1994 Lillehammer 5 km 1994 Lillehammer 15 km pursuit 1992 Albertville 4 x 5 km 1994 Lillehammer 4 x 5 km 1998 Nagano 4 x 5 km World Championships 1991 Val di Fiemme 4 x 5 km 1993 Falun 30 km 1993 Falun 4 x 5 km 1995 Thunder Bay 30 km 1991 Val di Fiemme 5 km 1991 Val di Fiemme 30 km 1995 Thunder Bay 5 km

Manuela Di Centa (born January 31, 1963) is an Italian cross-country skier and former Olympic athlete. She is the sister of cross-country skier Giorgio Di Centa and cousin of former track and field athlete Venanzio Ortis.

Di Centa, born in Paluzza, province of Udine, to a family of Nordic skiers, made her debut on the Italian national team in 1980 at the age of 17, skied with the G.S. Forestale. Two years later, she competed at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo finishing in eighth place. After a quarrel with the president of the Italian Skiing Federation, Di Centa left the national team, not returning until 1986.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, she finished sixth in the 20 km freestyle. She won her first medals in international competition at the 1991 World Championships in Val di Fiemme: a silver (4 x 5 km) and two bronzes (5 km, 30 km). An Olympic medal followed in 1992, a bronze in the 4 x 5 km. In 1993, at the Falun World Championships, she won two more silvers (30 km, 4 x 5 km). At the 1995 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, she won another silver (30 km) and a bronze (5 km).

Di Centa also became Italian national champion in fell running in 1985, 1989 and 1991.

Di Centa seemed confined to the role of the eternal second, but this changed abruptly at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, where she medaled in all five cross-country events: two gold, two silver and one bronze medal. The same year she also won her first aggregate Cross Country Skiing World Cup, a feat she repeated in 1996.