Tina Maze: Sensual power woman

Winter sports jewel, chart-topper and fashion ambassador: almost everything that Slovenian ski athlete Tina Maze tackles turns into gold or at least silver. Although she likes to watch the men in training, she misses the female side in skiing.

by Henning Heilmann

The beautiful Slovenian with the radiant smile saw the light of day on May 2, 1983 in Slowenj Gradec. Only one year old, her parents moved her to Črna na Koroškem, a popular winter sports resort in the Slovenian Alps. She was already on the boards at the age of three, and as a young girl of 13 she already won all the competitions in her age group. At 17, she scored her first World Cup points in the giant slalom in Sölden. This discipline was to remain her strongest, and it was here that she established herself among the world's best.

Go for Gold
In the previous season, Tina Maze dominated the World Cup almost at will, eventually also taking victory in the overall World Cup standings. At the Alpine World Ski Championships in Schladming in the spring, she won gold in the Super-G and silver in the Giant Slalom and Combined. With her own team, the "Team to aMaze" (the team that astonishes), she astonishes the ski world. It is therefore no surprise that Tina Maze was awarded the coveted "Skieur d'Or" trophy by the International Ski Journalists Association (AIJS) in October as the most outstanding personality of the last ski season. In this winter season, things are not yet going quite as smoothly for Tina Maze. However, the Slovenian medal hopeful can also be counted on in Sochi. In Vancouver, she took silver twice in super-G and giant slalom. "I think the most important thing is the Sochi Olympics," the 30-year-old told the Aspen Times in November. Even though Tina Maze is a very feminine skier, she likes to watch the men in training, who she believes take more risks overall than the women.

Ski star on South Sea coin
Lindsey Vonn, Maria Höfl-Riesch, Elena Curtoni, Lara Gut, Tina Maze: Alpine winter sports are richly blessed with beautiful women. But still, in the tough competition, you sometimes miss the female side of many of them. Not so with Tina Maze, she confidently flaunts her beauty in photos with her own jewelry line and as a model for Giorgio Armani. In 2012, in Bad Kleinkirchheim, there was even a petty discussion once about her underwear not conforming to the rules. "I really miss femininity in skiing, and I'm proud to be the only female skier with her own jewelry collection," Maze reveals.10 collections of elegant jeweled jewelry....