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Topic: Ted Ligety

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Theodore Sharp "Ted" Ligety (born August 31, 1984, in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American alpine ski racer. He was the 2006 Olympic gold medalist in combined and the two-time World Cup champion in giant slalom (2008 and 2010). Ligety won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships. As of February 2011, he has eight World Cup victories (all in giant slalom), 24 podiums, and 64 top-ten finishes.

Growing up in Park City, Utah, Ligety began skiing at two and racing at eleven. He attended The Winter Sports School and graduated in 2002. He was named to the U.S. Skiing Development Team and won a silver medal in slalom in the Junior World Cup in 2004. He made his first start in a World Cup event during the 2004 World Cup season in the giant slalom at Park City, and he was added to the U.S. Ski Team full-time in the 2005 season, during which he had four top-15 finishes in slalom, placing 24th overall in the discipline.

Ligety recorded his first World Cup podium finish in the first slalom of the season, at Beaver Creek in December, and followed that up with a second and a third during the next three slaloms. Ligety's first major victory of his professional career came at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, held at Sestriere. Ligety won the gold medal in the men's combined event, a major upset after the two racers favored to win the event failed to finish the slalom portion. At age 21, he became the first American man to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing in a dozen years, since Tommy Moe won the downhill at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Ligety also became just the fourth American male skier to win Olympic gold, along with Moe, Phil Mahre (slalom, 1984) and Bill Johnson (downhill, 1984). At Turin, Ligety also participated in the giant slalom and the slalom, but he failed to complete either event. Following his Olympic victory in the combined, Ligety recorded his first World Cup victory, a win in the giant slalom in Yongpyeong, South Korea. He finished ninth in the overall World Cup standings for the year, marking the first time that three American men had placed in the top 10 (along with Bode Miller in third and Daron Rahlves in fourth), despite the fact that he did not compete in downhill or Super G that year.

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