Frank Thomas

Tomba Notable Sports Figures
Alberto Tomba
bottom of the hill in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, in January
of 1995, instead of making an outrageous self-congratulatory
remark of the type he was known for when
he was twenty-one, Tomba instead dedicated his win in
the giant slalom that day to the victims of the war going
on in Bosnia, a few hundred miles to the southeast. Reportedly,
he became less of a womanizer as well, and
started looking more seriously for someone to settle
down with. He was engaged to a former Miss Italy for a
time, although they broke up after a semi-nude photograph
of her was run in a magazine.
To Retire or Not to Retire?
In the spring of 1996, Tomba announced that he was
taking a three-month break from skiing and considering
retiring permanently. After winning the overall
World Cup title in 1995 and two gold medals at the
World Championships in February of 1996 (Tomba’s
first golds at that event), there was nothing left for him
to win. However, the biggest incentive to retire was the
pressure that Tomba felt from constantly being in the
media spotlight. “It’s not enough just to race,” Tomba
said in 1996, according to Outdoor Online. “Alberto
must win every day. If I come in second, they say Alberto
lost. In Italy they want to know about me every
minute. . . . If I kiss a friend on the cheek, the papers
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say, ‘Alberto’s new girlfriend.’ Then she has to hide.
And her family, too. In Italy, they love me too much.
They want to kill me. Now Alberto is tired. More than
tired.” Tomba was occasionally accused of assaulting
photographers who violated his privacy, including
throwing a trophy at one photographer, who had sold
nude photographs of him. The photographer sued,
claiming that he suffered a hand injury in the incident,
and Tomba paid a fine to settle the suit. In 1996,
Tomba was accused of karate-kicking another photographer,
who was trying to photograph him outside of a
party in Florence.
Not all of Tomba’s run-ins with the law stemmed from
the paparazzi. In 1998 he and his father were indicted for
allegedly failing to pay taxes on 23 billion lire (about $12
million) that Tomba earned from sponsorships between
1990 and 1996. Tomba was eventually cleared, but in
2002 his father was convicted and sentenced to sixteen
months in prison. Over the years, Tomba was also accused
of abusing the police badge and flashing lights that
came with his (mostly ceremonial) position with the Italian
national police force, the Carabinieri.
Tomba did decide to come back to skiing. He had a
weak 1997 season, but seemed poised to make a comeback
in 1998. Unfortunately, the 1998 Nagano Olympics
were not good to Tomba. He injured his back and groin