Stephani Victor

Sport: Alpine Skiing
Residence: Park City, UT

USC film grad and actress Stephani Victor is living her own gold medal, if improbable script. Loading her car in 1995, she was pinned against her vehicle when an out-of-control car veered into her driveway. In order to save her life, both of her legs were amputated. Stephani’s will to live was astonishing and she was determined to overcome this unthinkable, catastrophic experience. Three years and 12 reconstructive surgeries later, she took her first adaptive skiing lesson. Since then she has won 5 Paralympic medals, 4 World Champion titles and 5 Overall World Cup titles.

At a young age, Victor started skiing in Pennsylvania with her family. However, it was not until 1999, while promoting a role in a movie during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, she took her first adaptive ski lesson. The athlete in her told Victor she could medal at the 2002 Paralympics (she did); the filmmaker in her said Paralympic Gold would be a perfect ending for her movie.

For most people marriage is a highlight year. Not only did Victor wed her longtime coach Marcel Kuonen, she then added to the season highlight reel, winning gold in the Slalom at the 2006 Paralympics. Her Paralympic run became the sought after climax to her documentary. “Thanks to Marcel, I have my gold medal ending”. Her documentary’s post-production schedule would be put on hold while Stephani took her skiing career goals to another level. She won the Overall World Cup title in 2007 and seized two more globes in Giant Slalom and Slalom. In 2009, she won an impressive 3 World Champion Gold Medals and one Silver Medal in Korea, elevating her to an unrivaled contender for Vancouver. In 2010 she continued to dominate with her best Paralympic performance yet. She finished with two Silver Medals in Giant Slalom and Slalom and became the first ever Gold Medalist in the Super Combined, just as Bode Miller had won weeks before at the same venue.

Career Achievements

• Three time Paralympian, Five time Paralympic Medalist, 4 time World Champion, 5 time Overall World Cup Champion and has 17 World Cup victories
• 2010: Gold Medal, super combined, Silver Medals, slalom & giant slalom- Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada
• 2009: Gold Medals, giant slalom, super combined & slalom– World Championships, Korea
• 2006: Gold Medal, slalom– Paralympic Winter Games, Sestriere, Italy
• 2004: Gold Medal, slalom, Silver Medal, super-G, Bronze Medal, downhill- World Championships, Wildschonau, Austria
• 2002: Bronze Medal, downhill– Paralympic Winter Games, Salt Lake City, UT

Stephani works closely with The Hartford, Founding Partner of U.S. Paralympics, a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee, helping to positively change public attitudes and perceptions about disability. To learn more about Stephani, visit her website:
www.stephanivictor.com