GOITSCHEL, CHRISTINE; AND GOITSCHEL, MARIELLE

born 1944, Sallanches, Fr. born Sept. 28, 1945, Sainte-Maxime French Alpine ski racing sisters who traded places winning gold and silver medals in the women's slalom and giant slalom events at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. In the slalom, Christine won the gold medal and her younger sister Marielle the silver. In the giant slalom, the sisters again had a one-two finish but in the reverse order. In the slalom event at the 1964 Olympics, Marielle had the fastest time of the first run, but Christine was even faster on the second run and won the gold. In the giant slalom Marielle was trailing her sister and American Jean Saubert, who were tied for first at 1 min 53.11 sec after the first run. She put forth a determined effort and won the gold by 0.47 second. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, Christine did not compete but Marielle did, winning the gold medal in the slalom with a time of 1 min 25.86 sec. In the event in which she had earned the gold in the previous Olympics, the giant slalom, Marielle finished in seventh place. Marielle also enjoyed considerable success outside the Olympics. She captured the world championship title in the Alpine combined in 1962, 1964, and 1966, and the giant slalom title in 1966. After retiring from professional skiing, she managed a ski program for children at Val Thorens, a ski resort in the Alps.