The "Blitz from Kitz" was the first skier at the olympic games to win all three Alpine skiing events (downhill, slalom and giant slalom), at the 1956 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo. He was the fifth athlete to win three gold medals in the same Winter Olympic Games.
He won four more gold medals in world championships before he retired in 1959. Between 1957 and 1971 he appeared in a handful of movies, most of them shallow comedies at least partly set in Alpine regions, with Sailer showing off his talent.