Leonardo David

Born in Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Aosta Valley, he died of heart failure in Gressoney-La-Trinité after nearly six years in a coma, caused by injuries he sustained in a fall near Lake Placid, New York, on 3 March 1979.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rYwyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JecFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6592%2C414035 |newspaper=Lawrence Journal-World |agency=Associated Press |title=Austrian skier wins; Italian racer injured |date=March 4, 1979 |page=5B}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/28/sports/italian-skier-hurt-in-79-fall-dies-after-5-years-in-coma.html|newspaper=New York Times |title=Italian skier hurt in '79 fall dies after 5 years in coma |agency=UPI |date=February 28, 1985 |accessdate=January 30, 2014}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JIoxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sKUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1232%2C3327902|newspaper=Montreal Gazette |agency=Associated Press |title=Skier dies six years after crash |date=Feb 28, 1985 |page=E-5 }}

David fell a few meters before the finish of the pre-Olympic downhill at Whiteface Mountain. He slid mostly on his back and his skis remained on. After coming to a stop, David arose and skied over to his coach, bent down to remove his skis, and collapsed. He was airlifted by military helicopter to Burlington, Vermont,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zc5aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QXwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1850%2C6475487 |newspaper=St Petersburg Times |title=Italian skier still in coma |date=March 31, 1979 |page=9C}} where surgeons removed a blood clot in his brain.

He had fallen two weeks earlier, in the downhill race of the Italian national championships at Cortina d'Ampezzo, and a friend reported David had complained of ongoing headaches since.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=emEaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mSkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5374%2C1560913 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |title=Skier injured at Lake Placid |agency= AP and UPI |date=March 4, 1979 |page=10 }} He had been examined by a neurosurgeon,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=T0lOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_BMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2904%2C5547321 |newspaper=Wilmington (NC) Morning Star |title=3 doctors indicted |date=August 29, 1990 |page=2B }} but was allowed to join the Italian team for the conclusion of the World Cup season in North America and Japan.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oY9TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pYYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6851%2C4544258 |newspaper=Bend (OR) Bulletin |agency=UPI |title=Panel to probe Italian skier's death |date=November 24, 1985 |page=E-7 }}

Then age 18, David was a promising talent on the Italian team, in his first year on the World Cup circuit. He won the overall and slalom titles of the European Cup in 1978, and placed second in giant slalom. He won his only World Cup race, a slalom in Oslo, less than a month before his accident, outpacing Ingemar Stenmark and Phil Mahre.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Cr4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T-4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2851%2C2004360 |newspaper=Ottawa Citizen |agency=UPI |title=Italy's David slalom winner |date=February 8, 1979 |page=24 }}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GwY1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=S08KAAAAIBAJ&pg=2963%2C2706894 |newspaper=Bangor (ME) Daily News |agency=UPI |title=Italian youth captures slalom |page=20}} David had 10 top ten finishes with four podiums during the 1979 World Cup season, and finished in 11th place in the overall standings with 85 points.

After nearly three months in a coma in Burlington, David was flown to Italy on a special U.S. military transport in late May, and hospitalized in Novara.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JIgwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TOAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3291%2C8446418 |newspaper=Schenectady Gazette |agency=Associated Press |title=Italian skier, still in coma, now home |date=May 24, 1979 |page=43 }} In late July, David was flown to Innsbruck, Austria,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZVhUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4Y4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4639%2C1746822 |newspaper=Ellensburg Daily Record |title=Skier moved |agency=UPI |date=July 26, 1979 |page=9 }}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pccsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OhMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2573%2C241420 |newspaper=Wilmington (NC) Morning Star |title=Injured skier moved |date=August 1, 1979 |page=4C }} for intensified treatment and was thought to be emerging from the coma in September.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=m1sxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eaQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4485%2C2035732 |newspaper=Montreal Gazette |agency=Reuters |title=Skier coming out of coma |date=September 22, 1979 |page=10 }} More than three years later, he was taken to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in the Soviet Union for a last-ditch effort to revive him in December 1982.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0QowAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PKUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6091%2C2816518 |newspaper=Montreal Gazette |agency=AFP |title=Skier still in coma |date=December 16, 1982 |page=D12 }} He died at home in February 1985 of an apparent heart attack. In 1990, three physicians were indicted on manslaughter charges in Italy on the grounds that David should not have been allowed to compete after his fall at Cortina d'Ampezzo.

David's parents run a small ski shop at Gressoney and it is kept as a small museum in memory of their son. Visitors can see his skis, Italian ski team posters on the shop roof showing him, with Piero Gros, and Gustav Thöni among others, all his trophies and some pictures. At the front wall of the parish church in Gressoney-Saint-Jean a memorial plaque is dedicated to David, and a racing piste is named after him in Gressoney Saint Jean.{{cite web|title=…dal 1959 : la storia di David Sport|url=http://www.dmsistemi.it/davidsport/storia/|website=David Spaort|accessdate=4 August 2017}}

• Points were only awarded for top ten finishes (see scoring system).

• 1 win (1 SL)
• 4 podiums (1 GS, 3 SL), 10 top tens (5 GS, 5 SL)

• {{YouTube|JkoY3P6-et0|Racing footage of Leonardo David, including final fall}}

{{reflist|2}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{sports links}}
• {{Ski-DB|leonardo_david_ita_dvdle}}
• [http://www.sportvintage.it/2009/06/16/leonardo-david-discesa-in-paradiso/ Sport Vintage] – Leonardo David – {{in lang|it}}

{{Alpine Ski Europa Cup Champions Men}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Leonardo}}

Category:1960 births

Category:1985 deaths

Category:Skiing deaths

Category:Sport deaths in Italy

Category:Skiers from Aosta Valley

Category:Italian male alpine skiers

Category:People with disorders of consciousness

Category:People with traumatic brain injuries

Category:People from Gressoney-Saint-Jean

Category:20th-century Italian sportsmen