María José Rienda

Born in Granada in 1975, I learned to ski at the age of nine at the school of the Sierra Nevada ski resort. I raced for the Spanish national team from 1989 to 2011.

I won six FIS Alpine Ski World Cup races, all in giant slalom, the most by any Spanish woman, and finished on the World Cup podium eleven times. I competed at five Winter Olympics (Lillehammer 1994 to Vancouver 2010), earned an Olympic diploma with sixth place in giant slalom at Salt Lake City 2002, and was Spain's flag bearer at the Salt Lake City 2002 closing ceremony and the Turin 2006 opening ceremony.

After retiring in 2011 I moved into sports management: at the Sierra Nevada resort (Cetursa), as Director General for Sport of the Andalusian Government (2015-2018), and as President of the National Sports Council and Secretary of State for Sport (2018-2020), the first woman in that role. Today I am Director of Mountain Activities and Sustainability at Cetursa Sierra Nevada. Since 2024 I have also been on the board of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.

Official results: FIS · Olympics.com