Double Olympic ski champion 'Gold Rosi' Mittermaier dies aged 72

Mittermaier's family told Germany's SID news agency she "fell asleep peacefully surrounded by her family" on Wednesday after a serious illness.

Born in Munich, Mittermaier grew up near the Austrian border in the Bavarian Alps, where her father ran a ski school.

Starting her international career aged 16 in 1967, her greatest successes came a decade later, when she won gold in the downhill and slalom, alongside silver in the giant slalom at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics.

Mittermaier retired at the end of the ski season, aged just 25.

Nicknamed 'Gold Rosi' for her exploits on the piste, Mittermaier - who later tried her hand as a pop star, recording two albums of Bavarian folk songs with younger sister Evi - achieved mainstream fame in Germany after her Olympic victories.

After her retirement, Mittermaier worked as a commentator for major sporting events on German television, as well as acting as an ambassador for several charitable organisations.

In 2000, she founded a charitable organisation to help children with rheumatism.

Upon her entry into the German Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, the Deutsche Sporthilfe Foundation said her induction was not only down to her skiing prowess, but "rather, (due to) the charisma of her overall personality and her life after her career, which is characterised by social commitment."

Mittermaier's son, Felix Neureuther, 38, was also a skier and won several World Championship medals in slalom.

Despite her early retirement, Mittermaier continued skiing non-competitively, saying "for me, skiing is the best thing there is and is where my heart will always rise."