Willy Stähle facts for kids

Willy Stähle in July 1973.

Willy Juana Stähle (born June 16, 1954 – died August 27, 2015) was an amazing Dutch water skier. She became a world champion in water skiing, showing incredible talent and skill on the water.

Early Life and Water Skiing Start

Willy spent some of her childhood in Venezuela. There, her father taught her how to water ski. This early start helped her become very good at the sport. When her family moved back to the Netherlands, they lived in a town called Bergen.

Becoming a Champion

Willy quickly started winning competitions.

• In 1968, she won her first Dutch national water skiing championship. This was a big achievement in her home country.
• The next year, when she was just 15 years old, she won her first European championship. This showed she was one of the best in Europe!
• In 1971, Willy achieved her biggest dream: she won a world championship title. She won in the "trick" discipline, which means she performed cool stunts on the water.
• Because of her incredible success, she was named the Dutch Sportswoman of the Year in 1971.

Olympic Dreams

Water skiing was a special "demonstration sport" at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. This meant it was shown to people, but the medals didn't count towards the official country totals. Even so, Willy did incredibly well!

• She won a gold medal in women's figure skiing.
• She also won a silver medal in slalom.

These were huge wins for her, even if they were not official Olympic medals.

Life After Water Skiing

In 1975, at the young age of 21, Willy decided to stop competing in water skiing. She had already won 26 European titles, which is a lot!

New Paths

After retiring from water skiing, Willy explored new interests.

• She became a physiotherapist, helping people recover from injuries.
• She also became very interested in parachuting, which is jumping out of airplanes.

A Difficult Challenge

On August 7, 1983, Willy had an accident during a parachute jump. She got a spinal cord injury, which meant she could no longer use her legs. This made her paraplegic at 29 years old. Despite this challenge, she continued to live her life. In the late 1980s, she studied art at the Rietveld Academie. Later in her life, she preferred to live a quiet life away from the public eye.

Willy Stähle passed away on August 27, 2015. Her death was announced a few days later, on September 1, 2015. She is buried in the Zorgvlied cemetery in Amsterdam.