Jackie Chamoun (born 21 October 1991) is a Lebanese alpine skier. At the age of 14, she started participating in professional skiing events (slalom and giant slalom) all around the world. She participated in FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 2009 as well as in 2013. She has skied for Lebanon at the Winter Olympics in 2010 and 2014.

Jackie Chamoun
Personal information
Born (1991-10-21) 21 October 1991 (age 33)
Deir el Qamar, Lebanon
OccupationAlpine skier 
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Skiing career
DisciplinesSlalom, giant slalom
ClubClub Le Chalet
Olympics
Teams2 – (20102014)
World Championships
Teams2 – (20092013)

Education

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Chamoun studied Sports Management at the Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland and hopes to improve sports in Lebanon by encouraging children to participate in athletics, and putting in place better practice facilities. While she was in school, she interned in Paris in Havas Sports and in Monaco in Peace and Sport.[1]

Skiing career

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Chamoun became a skier at age 3 in Lebanon's Faraya.[2] At 14, she started to compete professionally in alpine skiing.[2] She competed at the World Ski Championships at Val D'Isere in 2009.[2]

At the age of 18, Chamoun represented her country in the 2010 Winter Olympics that took place in Vancouver and finished in 54th place in slalom.[3]

"It is very nice to represent our country," Chamoun said. "People are surprised to see us there because they don’t expect Lebanon in the Winter Olympic Games. But we are really glad to have this chance to be a part of the Olympics and be able to exchange with people from other nationalities and talk about our culture and discover other cultures."

— [4]

She competed at the World Ski Championships at Schladming in 2013.[2]

She participated at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, as Lebanon’s only female skier to compete in the Olympic Games in both the slalom and the giant slalom.[3] Her participation at the Olympics became controversial in Lebanon after it was revealed at home in 2014 that she had posed in sexy photos for an Austrian calendar in 2011 by Hubertus von Hohenlohe. A ministerial investigation has been mooted, while an online support protest "Strip for Jackie" has been organized. Chamoun has denied that she posed nude publicly on her Facebook page, saying that the behind the scenes images were not for publication.[5][6][7][8] She finished 47th in slalom at the Games, 44.20s behind the leader.[9] After the first run, she was 58th with a time of 1:16.05 some 23 seconds behind the leader, after having started 87th.[10] After both runs she was 47th with a total time of 2:28.74.[11]

Personal life

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In May 2017, she married former French footballer and World cup winner Christian Karembeu in Lebanon.[12] The couple announced the birth of their daughter later in the year.[13]

Achievements

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References

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  1. ^ "Behind Sports with Jackie Chamoun: Lebanon Olympic Skier". Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d "Who is Jackie Chamoun?". Planet Lebanon. Now. 11 February 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Jackie's Profile". NBC. Archived from the original on 27 January 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  4. ^ Joe Battaglia (30 January 2014). "Alpine skier Jackie Chamoun defies odds to make it from Beirut to big time". NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  5. ^ Isabelle Vatan (12 February 2014). "Jackie Chamoun au royaume des skieuses topless" (in French). L'Equipe Sport&Style. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  6. ^ Ziyad Makhoul (12 February 2014). "Jackie, oh!" (in French). Le Monde Courrier International.
  7. ^ QMI (15 February 2014). "Naked fans support topless Lebanese skier Jackie Chamoun". Sun News. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014.
  8. ^ Luke Phillips (20 February 2014). "Mariachi, topless Lebanese muse take to Olympic slalom". AFP. Yahoo Sports. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  9. ^ a b Nathaniel Vinton (21 February 2014). "Winter Olympics: Lebanese skier Jacky Chamoun, who got caught up in topless video scandal, finishes 47th in slalom". New York Daily News.
  10. ^ CBC Sports (21 February 2014). "Alpine Skiing - Women's slalom – Run 1". CBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014.
  11. ^ CBC Sports. "Jacky Chamoun". CBC Olympics. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  12. ^ Christian Karembeu et Jackie Chamoun : Premières photos de leur mariage
  13. ^ "Christian Karembeu papa : l'ex-footballeur présente sa fille sur Instagram". closermag.fr. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
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