Killy, Jean-Claude

Identity area

Type of entity

Person

Authorized form of name

Killy, Jean-Claude

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Description area

Dates of existence

August 30, 1943 -

History

Jean-Claude Killy is a French retired alpine ski racer, actor, spokesman, racecar driver, and sports and Olympic official. He dominated the sport of alpine skiing in the late 1960s and was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there. He also won the first two World Cup titles, in 1967 and 1968. Killy was born in Saint-Cloud, France, a suburb of Paris, during the German occupation of World War II, but was brought up in Val-d'Isère in the French Alps, where his family had relocated in 1945 following the war. His father, Robert, was a former Spitfire pilot for the Free French and opened a ski shop in the Savoie village, later operating a hotel. In 1950, Jean-Claude's mother, Madeline, abandoned the family for another man, leaving Robert to raise Jean-Claude, age 7, his older sister (France), and their infant brother (Mic). Jean-Claude was sent to boarding school in Chambéry, France, 130 km down the valley, but he despised being shut up in a classroom. Killy turned his attention to skiing rather than school. His father allowed him to drop out at age 15, and he made the French national junior team a year later. As a young ski racer, Killy was fast, but did not usually complete his races. In December 1961, at age 18, Killy won his first international race, a giant slalom. The event took place in his home village of Val-d'Isère. Killy had started 39th, a position that should have been a severe disadvantage. The French coach picked Killy for the giant slalom in the 1962 World Championships in Chamonix, France, but Killy, unaware of his selection, was still attempting to qualify for the downhill event in northeastern Italy at Cortina d'Ampezzo. Only three weeks before the world championships, he skied in his typical reckless style and hit a stretch of ice in a compression and went down, rose immediately, then crossed the finish on just one ski and with the fastest time. Unfortunately, his other leg was broken, and he watched the 1962 World Championships on crutches. Two years later, at age 20, Killy was entered in all three of the men's events at the 1964 Olympics, because his coach wanted to prepare him for 1968. Unfortunately, Killy was plagued by recurrences of amoebic dysentery and hepatitis, ailments that he had contracted in 1962 during a summer of compulsory service with the French Army in Algeria. His form was off, and he fell a few yards after the start of the downhill, lost a binding in the slalom, and finished fifth in the giant slalom, in which he had been the heavy favorite. Yet a few weeks later, he dominated a giant slalom race at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, counting for the prestigious Arlberg-Kandahar events. A year later, he also triumphed at another major competition, the slalom of the Hahnenkamm races at Kitzbühel that he clinched three times in a row until 1967. Killy began to strongly improve his results afterwards to become one of the best technical ski racers. In August 1966, the Frenchman, nicknamed 'Toutoune' by some of his colleagues and friends, scored his first win in a downhill race against an international field at the 1966 World Championships in Portillo, Chile, and also took gold in the combined. Killy was peaking as the first World Cup season was launched in January 1967, with the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics only a year away. Killy was the first World Cup champion in 1967, winning 12 of 17 races to easily take the overall title. He also won the season standings in each of the three "Classic" alpine disciplines; he won all five of the downhill races and four of the five giant slalom races. The following year, Killy won the Triple Crown of Alpine Skiing with a sweep of all three Olympic gold medals (downhill, giant slalom, and slalom) in controversial circumstances at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. By finishing first in all races, he also captured the FIS world championship title in the combined event. With the Olympic events included (for the only time) in the World Cup standings, Killy easily defended his title in 1968 as the overall champion, placing first in the giant slalom and second in the downhill and slalom season standings. He retired following the 1968 season and moved to Geneva, Switzerland in 1969. Killy's success in Grenoble could not have come at a more opportune time for him: the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first to be extensively televised, in color, by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). His all-conquering success, combined with his Gallic flair and looks, made him an overnight celebrity in the United States, especially amongst young women. In May 1968, Killy signed with International Management Group, the sports management firm headed by Mark McCormack. After racing on Dynamic VR17 and Rossignol skis during the part of his career when he was dominant, Killy signed a deal with Head Ski in the fall 1968 to endorse a metal and fiberglass ski named for him, the Killy 800. Head, which was acquired by AMF the following year, manufactured a line of Killy skis for at least two years. In television advertisements, Killy promoted the American Express card. He also became a spokesman for Schwinn bicycles, United Airlines, and Chevrolet automobiles. Killy starred as a ski instructor in the 1972 crime movie Snow Job, released in the UK as The Ski Raiders, and US TV as The Great Ski Caper. American children in the early 1970s knew Killy from a TV commercial where he introduces himself, his thick accent making his name into "Chocolate Kitty." Killy played himself in the 1983 movie Copper Mountain: A Club Med Experience, starring Jim Carrey and Alan Thicke, set at Copper Mountain, CO. Killy also stars in the noteworthy TV movie Peggy Fleming at Sun Valley (1971), in which he performs some remarkable skiing tricks alongside the three-time ice skating World Champion Peggy Fleming. Jean-Claude Killy also had a short career as a racecar driver between 1967 and 1970, participating in several car races including at Monza. Killy entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1969, partnered with Bob Wollek, another former skier turned racing driver. Killy and Wollek's car led its class for a while before pulling out of the race with only four hours to go. In team with fellow Frenchman Bernard Cahier, Killy was 7th overall in the 1967 Targa Florio in a Porsche 911 S and first in the GT classification. In November 1972, Killy came out of ski racing retirement at age 29 to compete on the pro circuit in the US for two seasons. After a spirited challenge from two-time defending champion Spider Sabich, Killy won the 1973 season title, taking $28,625 in race winnings and a $40,000 bonus for the championship. He missed the next season due to a recurring stomach ailment, then returned in the fall of 1974. Injuries slowed him and he finished well out of the 1975 standings. From 1973 to 1987, he was married to French actress Danielle Gaubert, until her death from cancer. Together they had a daughter, Émilie; he also adopted her two children from her first marriage to Rhadamés Trujillo, the son of Rafael Trujillo, the assassinated dictator of the Dominican Republic. Gaubert and Trujillo were divorced in 1968, and later that year she met Killy. In addition to trying his skill as a car racer, Killy made two television series. One, The Killy Style, was a thirteen-week series that showcased various ski resorts, and the other, The Killy Challenge, featured him racing against celebrities, who were all given handicaps. He was also sponsored by a champagne company, Moët & Chandon, which paid him to be seen with a bottle of their champagne on his table everywhere he went. In 1974 Killy, as part of this sponsorship deal, was paid to ski down the previously unskied eastern slope of Mt Ngauruhoe (Peter Jackson's "Mt. Doom") in New Zealand. The average slope on this side of the active volcano is 35 degrees. Radar recorded his speed at over 100 mph (160 km/h), and it took two takes, as cloud cover spoiled the first. In 1975, Killy was hired to lead the new ski operations at Shawnee Mountain Ski Area, a resort in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. Killy tried his hand at distance running and competed in the 1983 New York City Marathon, finishing in 3:58:33. From 1977 to 1994, he was a member of the Executive board of the Alpine Skiing Committee of FIS. Killy served as co-president of the 1992 Winter Olympics, held in Albertville, France, and as the President of the Société du Tour de France cycling race between 1992 and 2001. After the winding up of the Olympic Organizing Committee, Killy served as President of sports marketing company Amaury Sport Organization from 1993 to 2001. In this capacity, he was responsible for the organization of numerous major sporting events including several cycling races, the Paris Marathon, and the Dakar Rally. From 1995 to 2014, he was a member of the International Olympic Committee and chaired the coordination committee for Torino 2006 and Sochi 2014 Games. He has been an Honorary Member since then. The ski area of Val d'Isère and Tignes in the French Alps was given the name l'Espace Killy, in his honour. In 1999, he was voted France's sportsman of the century. The Oreiller-Killy slope in Val-d'Isère is named after Killy and his compatriot Henri Oreiller. On November 19, 1999, he was honored with the "World Sports Award" as the best skier at the "World Sportsman's Choice of the Century" organized by ex-ski jumper Hubert Neuper. Killy became Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur in 2000. Intrawest credits Killy with the design of a ski trail, "Cupp Run", at their Snowshoe resort in West Virginia. Killy is known for being friends with Russian President, Vladimir Putin. In an interview for the 1972 documentary Elvis on Tour, Elvis Presley named Jean-Claude as his favorite skier.

Places

Saint-Cloud, France
Val-d'Isère, France
Chambéry, France
Algeria
Geneva, Switzerland

Legal status

Functions, occupations and activities

Alpine ski racer
Advertising spokesman
Actor
Racecar driver
Ski resort manager
Ski official
Olympic official
Cycling official

Mandates/sources of authority

Internal structures/genealogy

General context

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Occupations

Control area

Authority record identifier

FR-KJC001

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

RAD, July 2008 version. Canadian Council of Archives.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Catalogued January 2023.

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