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Curricula vitae of Gerda and Jennifer
Gerda Weissensteiner and Jennifer Isacco: Italy’s legendary Olympic bronze medalists!. The women bobsledders made the impossible possible: Fifty years after the Italian bobsledders won their first medal, now the first women's bobsleigh medal was earned! But the beginnings of this story date back to much earlier times...
Gerda Weissensteiner can look back to an amazing career as one of the country's leading sliding athletes on both natural and artificial tracks. She won as good as every title there ever was: Olympic gold, World Championships, World Cups. Then in 2001 and at the age of 31 she decided to give it a new chance - and changed to bobsleigh racing. The track was the same, but Gerda had to start all over again. She had to learn to run and to drive a vehicle: a bobsled that seemed to be oh-so different from an ordinary luge. But it didn't take her long to get to the top. Two years of work together with the great athlete and cycling professional Antonella Bellutti and Gerda was ready for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Already now you can sense her having the necessary feeling for bobsleighing. The seventh place in Salt Lake City is evidence enough. But Gerda wants more: She wants to get to the very top. And so she continues working to get to know the secrets of this great kind of sports.
After the Salt Lake City Olympics Antonella leaves the world of bobsleighing and a new face joins Gerda's team: Jennifer Isacco. Jennifer is actually known to be an experienced sprinter, who was introduced to bobsleighing only accidentally. She is however Italy's first women bobsledder ever, making first experiences in bobsleighing already in 1999.
From the very first moment the two young women go along in complete harmony and understanding: Gerda’s energy and lively nature ideally fits together with Jennifer's serenity and calmness. A great and above all successful combination as we will see in the following years. The athletes have one big aim they strive for: the 2006 Games in Turin. Even though the training is tough and their bobsleigh one of the heaviest ones, they are determined to get there - and they succeed.
Days of hard training and sacrifices characterise the following months, but the strong-minded young women never stop keeping track of their great objective, which on the same time they know to be the last stage of their amazing careers: the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin.
But the rejoicing hands and tears of joy when finally passing the finish line make up for all efforts and are a valuable recognition of their hard work. A recognition and a sign of gratitude to all of those who promised that they would never forget about this great moment.
A recognition and a sign of gratitude also to all those, who never stopped believing in these two young women, to all those who have worked with them and sustained them in any way and especially during this thrilling last run in that great night on February 21, 2006!!
Never ever has bronze had such a golden shine!
