Cercedilla is a municipality of the autonomous community of Madrid in central Spain. It is located in the Sierra de Guadarrama. It was the hometown of Francisco Fernández Ochoa (1950-2006), an alpine ski racer known for being the first (and only) Spaniard to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. He won the slalom in 1972 in Japan. Less than two weeks before his death from cancer, a statue was erected in his honor in Cercedilla. Many of his siblings were also on the national ski team; his sister Blanca won an Olympic bronze medal in 1992 in France.