Katy Rodolph Explained

Fullname:Catherine Louise Rodolph
Disciplines:Downhill, giant slalom, slalom, combined
Birth Date:1930 11, mf=yes
Birth Place:Denver, Colorado, U.S.[1]
Death Place:Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Weight:139 lb -->
Retired:January 1956 (age 25)
Olympicteams:2 – (1952, 1956 (injured))
Olympicmedals:0
Worldsteams:4 – (1950, 1952, 1954, 1956)
    includes Olympics
Worldsmedals:0
Show-Medals:yes

Catherine Louise "Katy" Rodolph (November 1, 1930 – September 17, 1994) was an alpine ski racer from the United States. She was a member of four world championship and Olympic teams in the 1950s.[2]

At age 19, Rodolph was the top North American in two of the three races at the 1950 World Championships in Aspen, with a fifth in the downhill[3] and eighth in the giant slalom.[4] She also finished fifth in the giant slalom at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo, Norway,[5] and fifth in the combined at the 1954 World Championships in Åre, Sweden. Named to the 1956 Olympic team,[6] [7] she incurred neck and knee fractures in downhill training at Kitzbühel on January 14, less than two weeks before the games began at Cortina d'Ampezzo.[8] [9]

Born in Denver, Colorado, Rodolph grew up in Hayden and learned to ski and race at nearby Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs.[10] She won nine national titles[11] and was later a race official. While on the U.S. Ski Team in the early 1950s, she resided in Sun Valley, Idaho, and worked as a waitress.[12]

Rodolph was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine in January 1952,[10] [13] and was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in 1966.

Personal

While still in plaster from her Kitzbühel injuries, Rodolph married William Wyatt, an officer in the U.S. Air Force, in a civil ceremony in Las Vegas in February 1956.[14] [15] It was her second marriage; her first (1951–53) was to Paul Wegeman, an Olympic Nordic ski jumper and racer from Steamboat Springs.[16] [17] [18] [19]

That marriage was kept secret for nearly a year, until the 1952 Winter Olympics in February, when rumors of a romance between Rodolph and new gold medalist Stein Eriksen made the wire services.[20] [21] [22] [23] After a crash on his third jump in the Nordic combined, Wegeman suffered a mild concussion and was hospitalized.[24]

In Oslo, the couple came forward to announce their marriage twelve months earlier in Raton, New Mexico and dispel the rumors,[23] but with consequences. At the Olympics, Wegeman was on temporary leave from training as a naval aviation cadet, and U.S. Navy regulations required candidates to be unmarried.[17] [25] Wegeman was removed from the program and then served enlisted duty in Guam.[26] Rodolph moved to Reno and worked as a waitress,[27] and gained a divorce in January 1953.[18] [28]

The Wyatts settled in Las Vegas and raised three children.[2] Rodolph-Wyatt died of complications of a rare blood disease at age 63 in 1994.[29]

World championship results

  Year    Age   Slalom  Giant
 Slalom  		Super-G Downhill Combined
19 not run not
awarded
21
2310 11 T-10 5
25injured, did not compete
From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.

Olympic results

  Year    Age   Slalom  Giant
 Slalom  		Super-G Downhill Combined
21 not run not run
25 injured, did not compete

External links

Notes and References

  1. Katy Rodolph. https://web.archive.org/web/20200418073259/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ro/katy-rodolph-1.html . dead . 2020-04-18 .
  2. Goodbye Katy, and thank you... . Skiing Heritage Journal . Howe . Nicholas . Winter 1995 . 42 .
  3. News: Young mother wins ski title . Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. February 18, 1950 . 3-part 2 .
  4. News: 21-year-old Austrian co-ed wins giant slalom race at Aspen . Claasen. Harold. Associated Press. February 14, 1950. 12 .
  5. News: Mrs Lawrence Olympic winner. Eugene Register . Associated Press . February 14, 1952 . 14.
  6. News: Mrs Lawrence, Brooks Dodge head US Olympic ski team. Nashua (NH) Telegram . March 21, 1955. 11 .
  7. News: A Roundup Of The Week's News: Skiing . Sports Illustrated. March 28, 1955 . 67.
  8. News: Girl's neck broken in ski race . Pittsburgh Press . United Press . January 15, 1956 . 1-sec 3.
  9. Scoreboard:...these faces in the crowd . Sports Illustrated. January 23, 1956 . 4 .
  10. Web site: Winter Olympic tradition earns Steamboat Ski Town U.S.A. moniker . Steamboat. 2013 . December 23, 2013.
  11. News: Reddish, Rodolph win national ski titles. Deseret News . United Press . March 16, 1953 . 4B .
  12. News: She floats through the air.... Spokesman-Review . photo . December 30, 1951. 4.
  13. Web site: Newsweek cover. Rare Nonfiction. January 28, 1952. December 22, 2013.
  14. News: Katy Rodolph marries airman . Spokesman-Review . Associated Press . February 23, 1956 . 19 .
  15. News: Wedding bells for Katy . Milwaukee Sentinel . AP photo . February 24, 1956 . 4-part 2 .
  16. News: Olympian Paul Wegeman recalls moments when course of Steamboat ski history shifted forever . Steamboat Today . Ross . Tom . August 20, 2013 . December 23, 2013.
  17. News: Married cadet awaits orders . Spokesman-Review. February 26, 1952 . 13 .
  18. News: Yankee skiing stars' marriage goes on rocks . Ellensburg Daily Record . Associated Press . December 31, 1952. 6.
  19. News: Romance of Olympic skiers is ended as Katy Rodolph seeks divorce . Montreal Gazette. Associated Press . January 1, 1953. 14.
  20. News: Norwegian wins in Olympic skiing . Toledo Blade. United Press. February 15, 1952 . 32.
  21. News: Norway skier posts victory in slalom run. Eugene Register Guard . Associated Press . February 15, 1952 . 6.
  22. News: Olympic fans agog over romance of ski competitors . Milwaukee Journal . Associated Press. February 18, 1952 . 5-part 2 .
  23. News: Deflation of rumors. Lawrence Daily Journal-World . Associated Press . February 25, 1952. 7.
  24. News: Austria and Norway sweep games; Yanks blanked . Spokesman-Review . Associated Press . February 18, 1952 . 8.
  25. News: Navy cadet who wed ski star faces demotion . Rome (GA) New-Tribune . INS . February 26, 1952 . 2.
  26. News: U.S. skier's divorce almost sure. Ottawa Citizen. Associated Press . January 1, 1953 . 14 .
  27. News: Photo: Katy Rodolph . Free-Lance Star. Fredericksburg, VA. Associated Press. November 22, 1952. 3 .
  28. News: Olympic ski queen divorced . Ottawa Citizen. Associated Press . January 7, 1953 . 21 .
  29. News: Passages . Seattle Times . September 25, 1994 . January 3, 2015.

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