Former Austrian Olympic ski champion Othmar Schneider has died aged 84, the Austria Press Agency reported Wednesday. Schneider - who won Olympic gold in the slalom and silver in the downhill at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo - died unexpectedly over Christmas eve, APA said. From 1950 to 1957 he won a dozen international ski events from Chamonix to St. Moritz and Wengen.
Schneider retired four years later after a poor showing at the Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo following injury, and went on to work as a ski instructor in the United States and Chile before returning to Austria in 1968, where he built a hotel. A 34-time state champion in shooting, he also won a team bronze medal with Austria in the free pistol event at the 1974 world championships, and coached his country to a bronze medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.