Austria is known for being immensely proud of its skiing tradition. For years, the country’s ski team was all but off-limits to foreigners, but in the late 1980s, a Slovenian man named Filip Gartner took charge of the team; the move was just another accomplishment in the impressive career of this Slovenian coaching legend.

Born in 1939, Gartner first became well-known for coaching the Slovenian men’s ski team in the 1980s. He helped to transform an also-ran ski team into an international success as talented Slovenian racers such as Boris Strel, Bojan Križaj, and Jure Franko started to win World Cup ski races. Despite limited financial resources available to the skiing association, a generation young men soon began to bring home medals from World Championships and the Olympics, and Filip Gartner became a household name in Slovenia almost overnight.

Despite Gartner’s success, tensions between him and the skiing association soon began to emerge. Some resented his toughness, while others had different ideas about how to run the newly successful team. In 1988, Gartner made a highly unorthodox move: He left Slovenia and joined the Austrian ski team.

For years, the Austrian skiing establishment had been known for being suspicious of outsiders, but that did not stop Gartner from making significant changes soon after his arrival. When he changed the designated supplier of equipment, some in the Austrian skiing association called for his immediate dismissal.

Thanks to his exceptional talents as a coach, however, Gartner slowly managed to gain the confidence of the Austrians. His hard work paid off, and the Austrian men’s ski team went from strength to strength. After four years, Gartner took over the women’s team, and under his leadership, Anita Wachter won the overall FIS World Cup, one of the most prestigious accomplishments in Alpine skiing.

Gartner had proven himself as a capable manager of the world’s best ski team, but he was not content to rest on his laurels. In the mid-1990s, he moved from Austria to the north of Europe, and took charge of the Norwegian ski team. He helped to lead Kjetil André Aamodt and Lasse Kjus to impressive successes; the latter also won the overall World Cup.

Now retired, Gartner remains a legend among skiing fans. He may not be as well-known as the men and women he helped to lead to victory, but his coaching legacy is among the most impressive in the sport’s history – in Slovenia or anywhere.