Nigel Gardner

In January 1950 Nigel Gardner finished third in the international boys’ downhill race at Wengen, Switzerland. He had only skied for a total of four weeks in his entire life before his podium finish. At the time, 16-year-old Gardner attended Haileybury School where his preferred sport was rugby, but the following year he won the Junior Kandahar race at Murren, Switzerland.

Gardner studied medicine at Birmingham University before qualifying in 1956 from St. Thomas’ Hospital, London. He then worked in several London hospitals, including being registrar at Lambeth Hospital, before taking up an obstetrician and gynaecology consultancy post in Exeter in 1969 and staying until his retirement 29 years later.

While still at university, Gardner won the British Ski Championship in 1955, having been second the previous year. Also in 1955 he won the Alpine Combination after finishing third in both the downhill and slalom at the International Universities meeting at St. Moritz.

In 1959 he won the British Army Ski Championship while serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). At the 1956 Olympics, Gardner competed both the downhill and giant slalom, finishing 34th and 58th respectively.

Gardner was also a good skater and was a single-figure handicap golfer for many years, and was a member of the Royal and Ancient. He also played a leading role in the design of the new golf course near his Crediton home in Devon. His wife Juliet was also a good standard skier.