Canadian downhill racer and Olympian Gerry Rinaldi passed away on January 9, 2017 at the age of 72, in Kelowna, British Columbia.
Born in Kimberley, BC, Rinaldi learned to ski at Kimberley Resort and was named to the Canadian national team in 1963. He competed in the 1968 Olympic downhill, finishing 31st. His best career result was 10th place in the 1969 Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel, a race dominated by Karl Schranz, that year’s World Cup champion. During his final years on the ski team, Rinaldi spent summers working for Dave Jacobs at Lange, helping to organize the company’s factory in St-Jerome, Quebec. After leaving the team in 1970, he worked for Peter Kirby at Northstar imports, which sold Volkl, Look and other brands in Canada. Returning to Kimberley, he worked in a construction firm owned by his in-laws.
From 1989 to 2014, Rinaldi served as a FIS technical delegate and as Canadian representative on several FIS sub-committees. In 2005 he served as technical delegate for the 65th running of the Hahnenkamm. He’s reputed to be the only Hahnenkamm director who had raced in the event
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