Officer and skier: Denis Vaucher from Bern led his military patrol to the first Swiss gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924 - but this was only confirmed later
Image: Keystone
First female Swiss Winter Olympic champion: Hedy Schlunegger won the downhill in St. Moritz in 1948
Image: Keystone
Dynamic in the mountains of California: Roger Staub won the Olympic giant slalom in Squaw Valley, was also a welcome guest in the jet set and became legendary for a cap named after him
Image: Keystone
Disgruntled Federal Councillor: the 1964 Games, the last without a Swiss medal, even prompted Paul Chaudet, then head of the military department, to take action
Image: Keystone
In the limelight at the age of 17: Marie-Theres Nadig won gold in the downhill and giant slalom in Sapporo in 1972 (there were also gold medals for both at the World Championships at the time)
Image: Keystone
The medal that her brother was denied: Peter Schärer, who was replaced as push athlete at short notice, admires Erich Schärer's Olympic silver medal in the four-man bobsleigh
Image: Keystone
The pirouette that made her famous: Denis Biellmann swept the American audience off their feet with her 1980 free skate
Image: Keystone
The big moment in Sarajevo: Max Julen wins the giant slalom
Image: Keystone
Swiss ice hockey's finest hour: the 2:1 victory over Finland in Calgary in 1988 is a sensation
Image: Keystone
The Swiss skier of the century: Vreni Schneider left her mark on the 1988 Games in Calgary and many other races
Image: Keystone
Ski acrobat of the first hour: Andreas "Sonny" Schönbächler flies spectacularly to gold in Lillehammer in 1994
Image: Keystone
Thumbs up: Didier Défago achieved the perfect downhill in Whistler/Vancouver in 2010
Image: Keystone
Together with Simon Ammann, the most successful Winter Olympian in Swiss history: cross-country skier Dario Cologna returned home from Sochi with two gold medals, winning one in Vancouver in 2010 and one in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Image: Keystone
Officer and skier: Denis Vaucher from Bern led his military patrol to the first Swiss gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924 - but this was only confirmed later
Image: Keystone
First female Swiss Winter Olympic champion: Hedy Schlunegger won the downhill in St. Moritz in 1948
Image: Keystone
Dynamic in the mountains of California: Roger Staub won the Olympic giant slalom in Squaw Valley, was also a welcome guest in the jet set and became legendary for a cap named after him
Image: Keystone
Disgruntled Federal Councillor: the 1964 Games, the last without a Swiss medal, even prompted Paul Chaudet, then head of the military department, to take action
Image: Keystone
In the limelight at the age of 17: Marie-Theres Nadig won gold in the downhill and giant slalom in Sapporo in 1972 (there were also gold medals for both at the World Championships at the time)
Image: Keystone
The medal that her brother was denied: Peter Schärer, who was replaced as push athlete at short notice, admires Erich Schärer's Olympic silver medal in the four-man bobsleigh
Image: Keystone
The pirouette that made her famous: Denis Biellmann swept the American audience off their feet with her 1980 free skate
Image: Keystone
The big moment in Sarajevo: Max Julen wins the giant slalom
Image: Keystone
Swiss ice hockey's finest hour: the 2:1 victory over Finland in Calgary in 1988 is a sensation
Image: Keystone
The Swiss skier of the century: Vreni Schneider left her mark on the 1988 Games in Calgary and many other races
Image: Keystone
Ski acrobat of the first hour: Andreas "Sonny" Schönbächler flies spectacularly to gold in Lillehammer in 1994
Image: Keystone
Thumbs up: Didier Défago achieved the perfect downhill in Whistler/Vancouver in 2010
Image: Keystone
Together with Simon Ammann, the most successful Winter Olympian in Swiss history: cross-country skier Dario Cologna returned home from Sochi with two gold medals, winning one in Vancouver in 2010 and one in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Image: Keystone
In 1924, the idea of a winter counterpart to the Olympic Games in summer slowly took shape. Since then, Swiss athletes have provided many anecdotes.
02.02.2026, 14:00
02.02.2026, 14:07
SDA
The first Swiss gold medal in Olympic history is an unexpected one for many reasons. A quartet of three men from Valais and a lieutenant from Bern run to victory in the military patrol on January 29, 1924 in Chamonix. The captain of this squadron was Denis Vaucher, the grandfather of the current CEO of the National League of the same name. The grandson remembers that his grandfather only joined at short notice because a fourth Valaisan was injured and the other three, Alfred Aufdenblatten, Alfons and Anton Julen, knew him from their joint military service and the patrol leader had to be an officer according to the regulations. They travel to the Savoy Alps at their own expense and beat the favored French. "They couldn't find the target in the fog," says Vaucher about his ancestor's coup. The military patrol was the forerunner of the modern biathlon, shot at balloons from a distance of 150 meters in 1924.
This first Olympic gold medal was also unexpected because Vaucher and his team colleagues thought they were taking part in the "International Winter Sports Week", a kind of preliminary program for the following Summer Games in Paris. It was not until two years later, one hundred years ago, that the IOC officially declared the 1924 competitions to be the first Winter Olympics.
1948: Milk transportation instead of ski training
Hedy Schlunegger is the epitome of the former ideal of the amateur sportswoman. The daughter of a family of mountain guides, innkeepers and alpine farmers, she never competed abroad, but was a natural on the wooden skis that were common at the time. The Bernese Oberland native did not train for races, but as a child she skied to school in winter and also transported milk to the village of Wengen. Talent and natural training were enough for her to become Swiss champion at the age of 19 and to compete in the first post-war Olympic Games at the age of 24 - fortunately in Switzerland. In 1948 in St. Moritz, Schlunegger became the first Swiss woman to win Olympic gold in an individual discipline in the downhill - despite a fall (not unusual at the time). While the first Winter Games in the Upper Engadine in 1928 ended without a Swiss victory, this time the locals celebrated three times. In addition to Schlunegger, Edi Reinalter triumphed in the slalom and Felix Endrich and Fritz Waller in the two-man bobsleigh.
St. Moritz is chosen because it is the only venue able to prepare for the event in just 18 months thanks to its existing facilities and the fact that it was spared during the war. The stars of the games are also the ice hockey team, led by the legendary "-ni-Sturm" with Richard "Bibi" Torriani and the brothers Hans and Ferdinand "Pic" Cattini, who win bronze.
1960: Much more than the namesake of the Roger Staub cap
Today, Roger Staub is primarily known thanks to bank robbers who like to use the cap named after him. Few people remember that the Zurich native was once the most famous skier in Switzerland (and Swiss ice hockey champion with EHC Arosa). His career did not last very long, but was crowned with the greatest possible success. In 1960, the Winter Games are held for the second time in the USA, in the retort town of Squaw Valley. In order to publicize the newly built ski resort in California, the promoters run for the Olympic Games - and surprisingly win the election.
Roger Staub's victory in the giant slalom comes as no great surprise. He triumphs with a lead of four tenths over the Austrian Pepi Stiegler. Soon afterwards, he switches to the pros and makes a name for himself in the USA as a ski instructor and escort for celebrities, moves in the jet set from Vail to Las Vegas and is married to the TV presenter, then the "nation's sweetheart", Lilo Haussener.
When Staub crashed his delta glider in Valais in 1974 and suffered fatal injuries, the abdication in Zurich's Fraumünster was a huge event. Incidentally, he was not the first person to wear the cap named after him. It was simply a lucky charm for him. And because he wore it in the races, it became famous. Incidentally, Squaw Valley is no longer called that, as the term "squaw" is offensive to the indigenous people. The resort has been called Palisades Tahoe since 2021. Alpine World Cup races are also held there again, with Marco Odermatt winning in 2024 as the legitimate successor to Roger Staub.
1964: The Innsbruck debacle as a springboard to new heights
The Swiss performance in Innsbruck in 1964 is downright embarrassing. 77 athletes travel to nearby Tyrol and return without a single medal. This had never happened before and would never happen again at the Winter Olympics. The debacle spread far and wide, and even politicians got involved. Switzerland's reputation as a destination for winter tourism and its image as a military nation, especially that of the army, were at stake. "The Federal Council is not indifferent to defeats," explains Paul Chaudet, Head of the Military Department.
The low point thus becomes the starting signal for the sport's path out of its niche, an improvement in structures and a higher public profile. A year and a half later, a study commission publishes a report that is intended to "lay the foundations for the promotion of elite sport and the professionalization of the previously voluntary management". The National Committee for Elite Sport (NKES) was founded in 1966, followed by the Swiss Sports Aid Foundation in 1970. Success came quickly. At the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, six medals were won (two silver, six bronze), and four years later the "golden days of Sapporo" thrilled Switzerland.
1972: Young, uncomfortable and incredibly fast
Japan is a culture shock for Marie-Theres Nadig. When she flies to Sapporo for the 1972 Olympic Games, it is her first big trip. After all, she was only 17 years old and an almost completely unknown quantity. But then the young woman from Flumserberg kick-started the still legendary "Golden Days of Sapporo" with ten medals, including four gold, and 3rd place in the national rankings behind the state amateurs from the Soviet Union and the GDR.
Bernhard Russi is the favorite to win the downhill - in red and black. In the women's race, gold seems to be reserved for the great Annemarie Moser-Pröll. However, Nadig is 32 hundredths faster - in a blue suit, as the women do not yet have the same status as the men. Three days later, she proves that her triumph in the downhill is anything but a coincidence. In the giant slalom, at that time still raced in one run, she distanced Moser-Pröll by as much as 85 hundredths and third-placed Wiltrud Drexel by almost 2.5 seconds. What a demonstration of power!
Nadig is not fit to be the "darling of the nation". She is too uncomfortable for that. "I was very direct," she admits in a recent interview with the SonntagsZeitung. "If someone told me to do something, I did the opposite." But the Sargans native felt comfortable on skis. In 1980 in Lake Placid, she won another Olympic bronze in the downhill and retired at the age of 26. After 24 victories in the World Cup and as overall World Cup winner.
1976: When family peace suffers briefly
Hardly any Swiss athlete strives for success as consistently as bobsledder Erich Schärer. In 1975, he became world champion in the four-man event for the first time as a pilot - with his older brother Peter as push athlete - and in 1976 he aims for an Olympic medal in Innsbruck - at the very least. The problem: the start times were no longer so good that season. Before the last day of training, Erich Schärer drops the bombshell. He swapped his brother and Werner Camichel for Ueli Bächli and Ruedi Marti in his crew.
"Due to the start times, the decision was very difficult, but necessary," says Erich Schärer, 50 years later. His father accepted the decision for sporting reasons, his mother less so. With hindsight, Erich says: "I should have switched a day earlier." The lack of coordination led to a mistake at the start of the first run, and in the end he was 46 hundredths off the Olympic champion Meinhard Nehmer. For Schärer it is clear: "Otherwise we would have won."
He gives the silver medal to his brother, who got him into bobsleigh in the first place. He shows himself to be a fair sportsman. "In our original line-up, these start times would not have been possible," he told "Schweizer Illustrierte" at the time. One week later, Erich and Peter Schärer became European champions together in the two-man event in St. Moritz, and four years later, Erich, seven times world champion in total, won the longed-for Olympic gold medal in Lake Placid with "Switzerland's fastest postman" Sepp Benz. In fact, the house didn't hang down for long. Today, the brothers both live in Herrliberg on Lake Zurich and see each other every day, as Erich says with satisfaction.
1980: Standing ovation for a dream free skate
Fourth place is generally perceived as the most thankless. But there are exceptions. Denise Biellmann achieved one such exception in Lake Placid in 1980. With a fantastic free skate, the then 17-year-old from Zurich swept the American audience off their feet. A rare standing ovation is the well-deserved reward, but no medal.
Biellmann came 12th in the compulsory program (which was abolished too late for her), but after the second-best short program, she outshone all her competitors with her free skate. Almost 46 years later, she still has fond memories of the days in Lake Placid. "The whole world was watching. It was advertising and a door opener for me." The Zurich native becomes a star. After her victory at the European Championships in January 1981, "Blick" wanted a story about her every day, as she laughingly recounts. A month and a half later, she won the World Championship title in Hartford, again in the USA, and then ended her amateur career.
"I had a fantastic offer from Holiday on Ice in case I won," she explains. The pressure is therefore naturally great. In the meantime, she even tells her mother that she would perhaps rather go shopping in New York than compete. But she keeps her nerve and actually becomes world champion. Lake Placid remains her only Olympic Games, as she still has strict amateur status. Nevertheless, Biellmann does not regret her decision. She went on to have a great career with show performances, where she was able to live out her creative streak, and became professional world champion eleven times. She still regularly skates on her beloved ice and looks forward to the colder season. "It was great for me," she says. 4th place and life afterwards.
1984: Cool in the whistle
He has only won one World Cup race, the favorites in the 1984 Olympic giant slalom are others. Pirmin Zurbriggen, Phil Mahre, Hans Enn, Joël Gaspoz and Andreas Wenzel. But now Max Julen is standing in the starting house for the second run, looking down into the valley from the Bjelasnica mountain. What he sees could be intimidating: 30,000 Yugoslavian fans whistling and booing mercilessly. One of them is leading, Jure Franko, and at the top there is only a slight man from Upper Valais, the almost 23-year-old Max Julen. He wears only ski goggles, his hair fluttering in the wind. Helmets are still a long way off in the giant slalom - and he hears everything.
Julen knows that this is his golden opportunity. The track in the forest is steep, but narrow and short, and the course is inevitably tight. Ideal for an agile lightweight like him. The whistles don't make him nervous, they motivate him. The man from Zermatt, who now runs a hotel with a view of the Matterhorn back home, wins with a lead of 23 hundredths over Franko. The latter is also delighted with silver, congratulates him immediately and shows more sporting spirit than his compatriots on the slopes. Tragic: just eight years later, the inhabitants of Sarajevo were fired upon from this very mountain during the Yugoslavian war and besieged for almost four years.
1988: The silent tornado from Elm
The alpine skiing competitions at the 1988 Games in Canada are dominated by two superstars who could not be more different: Alberto Tomba and Vreni Schneider. The Italian is known as a loudmouth and party king, while the Glarus native knits in her hotel room in her free time. They are both gifted skiers, unbeatable in the slalom and giant slalom. Tomba wins the giant slalom by over a second, Schneider the giant slalom by 93 hundredths and the slalom by an incredible 1.68 seconds - and that with the burden of being the top favorite at her first Olympic Games.
The Elmer's second runs are impressive and soon to become legendary. It often takes a gap to lure the quiet Glarus native out of her shell. After a disappointing Games in 1992, Schneider won another Olympic victory in the slalom in Lillehammer in 1994, as well as silver in the combined and bronze in the giant slalom. With three World Championship titles, three overall World Cup victories and a total of 55 first places in the World Cup, Vreni Schneider is the most successful Swiss skier in history and is rightly named Swiss Sportswoman of the 20th Century.
The defensive battle of Calgary
In the 1980s, Swiss ice hockey was far from first-class. At the 1987 World Championships in Vienna, they were relegated with 0 points from 10 games, losing 5:13 to the Soviet Union, 1:12 to Sweden and 1:8 to West Germany. Expectations for the following year's Winter Games in Calgary were correspondingly low.
And then this: The Swiss win the opening game 2:1 against the eventual silver medallists Finland in the iconic Saddledome. In the opening period, coach Simon Schenk's team surprises with a counter-attack goal from Peter Jaks and a slapshot from Köbi Kölliker and leads 2:0. A defensive battle develops after the Finns' follow-up goal at the latest. Led by the NLA stars Kari Eloranta (Lugano) and Rexi Ruotsalainen (Bern), the northerners press for the equalizer, but the outstanding Davos goalkeeper Richi Bucher can no longer be beaten. He saves 32 of 33 shots. The Swiss then beat Poland, but narrowly missed out on the final round of the top six.
1994: Sonny Schönbächler's Norwegian miracle
Andreas Schönbächler, known to everyone as Sonny, is one of the most surprising Swiss Olympic champions. When ski acrobatics made its Olympic debut as a fully recognized sport in Lillehammer in 1994, the Zug native had already been competing in the World Cup for ten years - without ever having won a competition. He barely made it through qualifying in tenth place. On February 24, however, Schönbächler is floating on a cloud and conjures up two perfect jumps over the hill. The favored Canadians were left behind and had to settle for silver and bronze.
Schönbächler, with his jumping center in Mettmenstetten in Zurich's Säuliamt region, later made a significant contribution to further Swiss medals in the discipline known in New England as aerials. And he is at the origin of a tradition. New sports are real gold mines for Switzerland. In 1998, curlers with skip Patrick Hürlimann won the first Olympic tournament of modern times, and snowboarder Gian Simmen triumphed in the halfpipe. Tanja Frieden's gold medal in the first snowboard cross event in 2006, the "Goldplämpu of Turin", is unforgettable. In 2010, Mike Schmid dominates the newly introduced ski cross. In 2026, medals are awarded for the first time in the ski touring race in Bormio. Here, too, the Swiss are among the top favorites.
2010: Défago's film without a snowstorm
For 22 years and Pirmin Zurbriggen's victory in Calgary, Switzerland has been waiting for an Olympic downhill champion when the 2010 Games return to Canada. Seven Swiss have fulfilled the selection criteria, with hopes resting above all on Didier Cuche, who sets the fastest time in both training runs, and Carlo Janka. The man from Graubünden later wins the giant slalom. Didier Défago, on the other hand, first has to assert himself within the team and gets the fourth Swiss starting place. Due to a storm with snow and rain, the downhill had to be postponed by two days. By the time things got serious, there was no sign of the snowstorm - neither in the sky nor in Défago's head. "Before the start, you imagine the ride like a movie and press 'play'. But then it almost never goes exactly to plan. There's always a bit of snow in the picture," explains the man from Valais. "But this time it worked out almost perfectly." When he crosses the finish line and it lights up green as a sign of the best time, he knows that this is "certainly enough for a medal" - after five world championships and two Olympic Games without a precious metal.
In his long career, Défago has also won the classic races on the Lauberhorn and in Kitzbühel, but "the Olympic victory is always on everyone's mind when he gives speeches", he notes. Even after retiring a good ten years ago, the trained structural draughtsman remains loyal to skiing. Today, he is managing director of the World Cup race committees and the 2027 World Championships in Crans-Montana.
2014: Cologna wins the race against time
Dario Cologna is at his peak in Sochi in 2014. Nevertheless, his successes hang by a thread. In November, he tore a ligament in his right ankle while jogging and his recovery until the Olympics became a race against time. And then the Grisons native from Val Müstair in the south-easternmost corner of Switzerland runs the competition into the ground. Four years earlier, he was the first Swiss cross-country skier to win gold at his first Olympic Games. In Russia, he wins the skiathlon, in which he is the reigning world champion, in a four-man sprint on the home straight. "That makes it even more special and emotional," recalls Cologna.
Over 15 km with a single start, he repeated his victory in Vancouver with a lead of almost half a minute. And even more would have been possible. He is also on course for gold in the 50 km supreme discipline right up to the last climb, which is tailor-made for him, before a fall robs him of all chances. Nevertheless, he left his mark on the Games in Sochi. "They are wonderful memories," he says. "Also because there were lots of spectators on the track in Russia." His parents and his current wife Laura were also there, and he ran the team sprint with his brother Gianluca, finishing fifth. Four years later, he won his fourth Olympic gold medal in South Korea. He is the first cross-country skier in history to triumph over the same distance at three Games in a row.
