Born: April 19, 1932 (Rutland County, Vermont)
Died: March 30, 2009
Biography:
Andrea Mead Lawrence (April 19, 1932 – March 30, 2009) was an American alpine ski racer and environmentalist. She competed in three Winter Olympics and one additional World Championship (Olympic competitions also counted as the Worlds during that period), and was the first American alpine skier to win two Olympic gold medals.
Mead was born in Rutland County, Vermont, to an alpine skiing family that owned and operated the Pico Peak ski area. At age 14, she made the national team, and at age 15, she competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where she placed eighth in the slalom. Two years later, Mead placed sixth in the giant slalom and ninth in the downhill at the 1950 World Championships in Aspen, United States.
At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, Mead Lawrence was selected as the captain of the U.S. women’s team at age 19. This led to her being the January 21 Time cover-story, just days before the team arrived in Oslo. The Time story was prescient – she won both the slalom and the giant slalom events.
Between the 1952 and 1956 Winter Olympics, Mead Lawrence gave birth to three children, sitting out the 1954 World Championship season. Returning for the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Mead Lawrence competed in all three disciplines, placing fourth in the giant slalom.
In 1958, just two years after retiring from competition, Mead Lawrence was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame. She was chosen as the penultimate torchbearer at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, US, passing it to American 1952 Olympic gold medal speed skater Ken Henry, who circled the ice rink then ascended the Tribune of Honor and ignited the Olympic flame.
After fighting against development at Mammoth Mountain ski area, Mead Lawrence was elected as a Mono County supervisor in 1982 and served for 16 years. In 1980, her memoir was published as A Practice of Mountains, with Sara Burnaby as a co-author. In 2003, she founded the Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers, a non-profit organization committed to conservation, specifically in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains.
Awards:
– Two Olympic gold medals in alpine skiing (slalom and giant slalom) at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway.
– Inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1958.