Josef Schaupper
Austrian alpine skier
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Josef Schaupper (3 August 1963 – 11 November 2000) was an Austrian deaf alpine skier.[1] He represented Austria at the Deaflympics in 1987, 1995 and 1999, winning 7 medals including a gold medal. He died in the Kaprun funicular railway fire on 11 November 2000, along with his fellow deaf skiers.[2][3]
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | Austrian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 August 1963 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 11 November 2000 (aged 37) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1987 – 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Austria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | alpine skiing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
Schaupper made his debut at the 1987 Winter Deaflympics and competed on two further occasions. In his maiden appearance, he won 3 medals: gold medal in parallel slalom,[4] silver medal in slalom[5] and bronze medal in downhill.[6]
After missing the 1991 Winter Deaflympics, he took part in the 1995 Winter Deaflympics, winning silver medals in the men's giant slalom and super giant events.[7][8] In the 1999 Winter Deaflympics, he again won silver medals in the men's slalom and super giant events.[9][10]
Death
Schaupper and his friends Sandra Mayr, Karl Hutegger and Stephan Mohr, who were also deaf skiers, were trapped and killed in a fire in an ascending train in the tunnel of the Gletscherbahn Kaprun 2 in Kaprun.[11][12][13][14] The disaster killed 155 people. A memorial to Josef Schaupper was erected in 2011 in Goldegg.[15]