Georg Hackl

At age twenty-one, Hackl slid to a silver medal at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, and he was the world champion in 1989 and 1990. It was the beginning of a remarkable string of success. Hackl went on to win at least 20 World Cup competitions and numerous world championship medals in both individual and team events. He finished in the top three in the overall World Cup standings eight times. In 1997, he added another world championship. It was at the Olympics, however, that Hackl's performance became legendary. In 1992, he won the gold medal in the Albertville games, adding to the German-speaking nations' dominance in winter sports. Two years later, he won gold in Lillehammer, outpacing the silver medalist by 13-thousandths of a second. At the 1998 games in Nagano, Hackl joined an elite group of Winter Olympians—including U.S. speed skater Bonnie Blair—to have won the same event three times in a row. "Hackl is the most decorated luge racer in history," Mike Dodd wrote in USA Today. "He brings a reputation as a driver who saves his best for the biggest events."