Jimmie Heuga and multiple sclerosis

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U.S. skier Jimmie Heuga was not the only participant in the 1964 Olympic Games to have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Heuga, who won a bronze medal in the slalom, died Monday, He was 66.

Josef ‘Pepi’ Stiegler, who won the gold in the slalom and bronze in the giant slalom, and Egon Zimmermann, who won the gold in the men’s downhill, also were diagnosed with M.S.

‘We don’t know that much about M.S., in general, so maybe in a couple [or] three decades we’ll know why it has happened,’ Stiegler said in 1995 on a ‘CBS This Morning’ appearance with Heuga and Zimmermann. ‘Not that it matters to us anymore, but maybe for future generations that have M.S., it might be of significance to them.’

You can read Heuga’s obituary here.

-- Keith Thursby