Jean Vuarnet An Olympic legend A tribute to Jean Vuarnet by Alain Publisher
Meta GE
Legendary Jean Jean and his passions
A tribute to Jean Vuarnet by Alain
Preface
Ask me about Jean Vuarnet and I will describe him to you by talking about my roots, which involve Childhood and Olympism. Jean for my childhood and Vuarnet for olympism. Jean first of all... A patriarch with a calm strength that has always been there. Powerful authority and attentive presence. He was keen for his children to want for nothing during a carefree time when business was taking off. Jean was able to build bonds of friendship, and knew how to develop his relationships outside of work. My parents are the living proof of that. They were employed on a handshake to start up and run Vuarnet Sport, on the former place du Téléphérique. My parents were proud to explain to me who Mr Vuarnet was. At the beginning, I saw Jean, the father of Patrick, my alter ego, a mischievous accomplice in our youthful vaudeville shows. Our theatre was called Avoriaz, and we trod its boards to travel through its Swiss-style ski area. When we got back, Jean found it funny seeing us soaked to our skin, a sly smile spread across his face. He was there, happy and detached, and watched us grow up and gain experience... We went our separate ways. But we stayed together in our hearts. And when one day in February 1992, when my parents were celebrating my victory in a flat in Tignes, Jean was there. I began to understand who Mr Vuarnet was. Looking back, Mr Vuarnet is first and foremost about the sunglasses, with their logo of a V resting on a pair of skis. Excellence is in the detail. And this packaging also tells the legend… And what a legend! The only Frenchman to return with a gold medal from the Squaw Valley Games in 1960. He is the human cannonball, gliding along in the egg position. He is the athlete in the red jumper who laces up his ski boots and looks at the horizon. He is the visionary conqueror who needs to protect his eyes from the intense light of the sun at high altitudes, for that is where he will be doing business. On the photo on the box, it looks like he can already see Avoriaz... “And because he saw it, he did it,” his friends will say. The legend was built on the shoulders of a humble lad who was an olympic champion. Is there not a paradox there? No, because you can’t reach these heights without questioning yourself each morning. That is what keeps you humble. Mr Vuarnet is humility incarnate, and has an unusually light-hearted outlook on life. Although things haven’t always been easy for him. The human cannonball has been through it all and is still gliding along... When Jean Vuarnet enters your life it’s a bit like a guide showing you the way. A philosopher who takes you somewhere else. A Homer who inspires you. You leave feeling like a small person with very big ideas. You feel stupid for asking yourself so many questions and that liberates you. He gives you wings and you find your roots… Thank you, Jean.
Edgar Grospiron
Impressum : Auteur: Alain Vuarnet Texte: Alain Vuarnet, Julie Vuagnoux, Eric Monné Sur une idée de: Julie Vuagnoux Relecture: Véronique Vuarnet et Véronique Talleri Conception & édition: www.meta-ge.ch - Ivan Missidenti / Frédéric Spycher Imprimé en Italie par O.G.M. S.p.a © 2010 - VUARNET INTERNATIONAL B.V “La société Vuarnet a cherché activement les auteurs des clichés de ce livre. Nous présentons nos excuses à ceux qui ne sont pas cités faute d’avoir pu été identifiés.”
The Vuarnet adventure began in 1960 with an olympic victory and the arrival of a champion. In 1960, wearing his very first metal skis, the Allais 60, Jean Vuarnet won the queen of olympic events, downhill skiing. This high-level athlete created the position known as “the egg�, which was designed to gather speed, and became to skiing what Fosbury is to athletics or what Panenka is to football! The man pursued his career and wrote part of the story as the founder of the Avoriaz ski resort, the originator of the Franco-Swiss Les Portes du Soleil ski area, and director of the Italian and then French Skiing Foundations... Innovation, tenacity, temerity and perseverance are some of the human qualities that the champion would display throughout his life! After fifty years of existence, authenticity and performance, this is the story of an olympic legend, a human adventure, and a name that became a global brand.
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
Childhood
Jean Vuarnet (who was named after his father) was born on 18 January 1933, and when he was just one year old, his parents decided to settle in Morzine. Jean Vuarnet Senior, a doctor, fitted in very quickly at this ski resort and soon became a key figure in the village. At the age of two, “Jean-Jean” was already taking his first steps in skiing and practised this sport intensively until the age of twelve. In 1951, he moved away from the mountains and completed his final year of secondary studies at the Lycée du Parc in Lyon, followed by studies in law. But his passion for skiing caught up with him very quickly, and he found success by following this path. During this exhilarating youth, Jean Vuarnet became the French University Champion, which opened the door to competitive skiing for him. He then joined the French Ski Team (downhill, giant, slalom, or combined slalom), and took part in more and more international contests.
I miss my father
My father was my sporting director, I was his coach
“In March 1935, I made my début on the snow. I had just turned two years old (…) Dad bought me some very short skis that he thought were right for my size and age. But even as a kid, I had character. When my father wanted to put my skis on, I screamed like the damned” - Jean Vuarnet, extract from Notre Victoire Olympique.
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
The portrait As a child, Jean loved to come up with excuses to put on his skis. He played with his dog “Toto” by going “skijoring”, (Swedish expression for skis pulled by a dog).
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
The family and children in the 60s
With skiing and competitions, Jean and Edith led an exhilarating life. Then the family grew, with the births of Alain, Pierre and Patrick. Later on they would become excellent skiers, and would also be gifted in other sports (tennis and golf for example).
The little family chalet called “mazot� in Morzine
Alain
Pierre
Patri ck
Alain his p with aren ts
Alain, Edith, Patrick & Pierre
Alain receives some final advice from his father before taking to the gate
The boys gathered around the head of the family
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
Brother and Sister In 1958, Jean married Edith Bonlieu, a member of the French Women’s Ski Team, who herself was French champion in downhill and combined skiing three times, and selected for the Olympics in 1956 in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Uniquely, Edith is both the wife and sister of two olympic champions: Jean Vuarnet, olympic and world champion in 1960, and François Bonlieu, olympic champion and world champion in the giant slalom in Innsbruck in 1964. My uncle, François Bonlieu, was an extraordinary skier. The mountain guides, high-level athletes and the whole Chamonix valley nicknamed François “the Little Prince of the Snow”! An extract from my father’s book Notre Victoire Olympique allows us to measure the genius of François Bonlieu: “François was riveted to the slope as if he were rolling on rails. He glided along without ever skidding, giving an impression of astonishing lightness... For François, who was just a kid, these movements had a rhythm, a flow, which was much more elegant than these champions. We were dazzled by the spectacle that we had just witnessed… His prodigious reflexes… We considered him to be a unique phenomenon whose way of skiing was inimitable for normal individuals.... François above all had an extraordinary sense of skiing! No comment...
Edith is selected for the Squaw Valley Olympics, but a fracture during the French Skiing Championships in Morzine in 1957 prevented her from taking part
Edith Vuarnet’s list of achievements - 1955 French downhill champion
- 1958 French downhill champion
- 1960 French downhill champion Edith was the French champion in 1955, when she was called Edith Bonlieu
Edith Bonlieu-Vuarnet is proud of “her” two champions. She is the only person to have the double title of being both a wife and sister of olympic champions.
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
Brother and Sister
François Bonlieu’s list of achievements 1954 World Championships in Åre (Sweden): • Silver medal in the giant slalom 1958 World Championships in Bad Gastein (Austria): • Bronze medal in the giant slalom 1964 Olympic Games in Innsbruck (Austria): • Gold medal in the giant slalom 1964 World Championships in Innsbruck (Austria): • Gold medal in the giant slalom
Jean Vuarnet
Charles Bozon
Adrien Duvillard
Guy Périllat
François Bonlieu
All five of us already together at Bad Gastein are going to create the Team and keep up the fight side by side until we get to Squaw Valley. After his victory, Jean would say: “Guy Périllat, if he hadn’t made two little mistakes at the end of the course, would have had every chance of overtaking his elder! As for Dudu, by beating the Austrians, he took on the heavy mantle of the favourites when he won the downhill event in Kitzbühel. Adrien trained the whole French team, which forged a winning attitude for itself. This is why I think that my medal also partly belongs to Adrien!” At these Olympics, the extraordinary Périllat took the world champion combined of FIS!.
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
The French team of mates I liked sensing Dudu’s presence by my side. We completed each other
René Collet, selected for the Cortina Olympics in 1956, my faithful friend
Guy Périllat, Jean Vuarnet, Albert Gacon, Adrien Duvillard Guy Périllat, Jean would say of him, “Harmony and power...a prestigious skier!”
Hanspeter Lanig, I appreciated his great kindness, he was a remarkable athlete and an excellent skier
“The French Team: a team of mates all fighting for the same ideal, the same goal. There was no rivalry between us, but there was emulation. It was excellent.” - Jean Vuarnet Jean Vuarnet, already an impressive list of achievements!
1956 : • Third place in the slalom and combined at the World Championships in Sestrières (Italy) 1957 : • French slalom skiing champion • French giant slalom champion • French combined champion 1958 : • French slalom champion • French downhill champion • French combined champion • Bronze medal in the downhill at the World Championships in Bad Gastein (Austria) 1959 : • French downhill champion 1960 : • ...
Jean Vuarnet Hanspeter Lanig and Guy Périllat
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
The French team of mates Jean Vuarnet next to his master, the great Emile Allais, triple world champion in 1937 in Chamonix and also in 1938 in Engelberg (Switzerland). He was the inventor of the first French skiing method in 1937, and was the first to wear aerodynamic leggings. A skiing pioneer in France, Emile Allais remains a legend. He was the first ski français monitor to be awarded a medal, and took part in creating American ski resorts like Squaw Valley, Sun Valley and Portillo in South America. He launched Megève. With Rossignol, Allais developed the famous Allais 60 that Jean wore for his victorious olympic descent. Aged over 95, Emile announced that he would keep skiing until he was 100 years old! A legend, Jean says!!!
Charles Bozon, Adrien Duvillard, nicknamed “golden helmet”, and Jean, from left to right.
Jean Vuarnet and François Bonlieu are carried triumphantly...
In 1958, Jean came 3rd in Bad Gastein alongside his friend Toni Sailer when Toni became world downhill champion. Apart from Jean-Claude Killy, Sailer became the only skier to have won three gold medals at a winter Olympics! It was a huge achievement, and both of them are icons of international skiing! Jean would say of Sailer: “I understood that to defeat champions who are exceptionally gifted by nature, as was the case with Tony Sailer, I needed to be more methodical than them when preparing to win the olympic title.”
From left to right: Marie-Louise Baud, Edith Bonlieu, Suzanne Gouiran-Thielière, Arlette Grosso, Thérèse Leduc, Danièle Telinge From left to right: Charles Bozon, Jean Vuarnet, Honoré Bonnet, Albert Gacon, Arlette Grosso, Guy Périllat, Adrien Duvillard, Michel Arpin, François Bonlieu and Emile Allais, François Baud
1960 The Games are open‌
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No. 10... that’s me!
2’06’’
Jean gives in to his emotions, he has just learnt that he is the olympic champion in the queen of olympic events, downhill skiing!
The olympic motto: “Faster, higher, stronger�
international press release
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
Squaw Valley - The great triumph! Notre Victoire Olympique 22 February 1960, five o’clock: the ceremony. The officials tear us from the hands of autograph hunters. A huge, multi-coloured crowd gathers around the olympic enclosure. They are getting ready to witness the great triumph of the day. I found myself at the foot of the podium, this podium that I had climbed in my dreams so many times. The trumpets sound. We step up, all very moved, Hanspeter Lanig in front, Guy at the back, in the religious silence of this crowd that was so noisy just a few moments before. The chairman of the French Olympic Committee steps towards me and gives me a crushing handshake full of emotion and enthusiasm. I receive the gold medal, this medal we have been chasing for so long. Our gold medal. The Marseillaise rings out, interrupting me in my thoughts. Ah! this Marseillaise, how vibrant it is!... Three flags are hoisted opposite the podium: mine is on the centre mast; to the right is Hanspeter Lanig’s German flag, to the left is Guy’s. Our two flags slowly rise majestically. I cannot take my eyes off them as the climb high up towards the sky… They are at once the symbols of the faith of a coach, the tenacity of a director, and the devotion of a whole federation. A supreme tribute to a team of mates who on that day gathered the prestigious fruits of each person’s anonymous labour and everyone’s will to win.
SQUAW VALLEY
USA
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
Arriving in Morzine
Back in their village and celebrated by the people of Morzine, Edith and Jean are happy
The French team, victorious at Squaw Valley, is celebrated at Courchevel - From left to right, Jean Vuarnet, Albert Gacon, HonnorĂŠ Bonnet, Guy PĂŠrillat and Adrien Duvillard
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
An innovator When Jean Vuarnet won the gold medal at the Squaw Valley Olympic Games, there was no doubting he had a secret weapon: metal skis. With Duvillard, Jean is the man who developed the famous Allais 60 metal skis from Rossignol. Above all he was the first athlete to win the Olympic Games or a major international race wearing these skis! But apart from the metal skis, Jean Vuarnet was above all the inventor and developer of the speed position known as “the egg�, because of the oval shape of the upper body. There again, he innovated and surprised people. It was in this position that Jean Vuarnet tore down the Squaw Peak slope at a speed approaching 110 km/h. This position is used today by all amateur and professional skiers, proving that Jean Vuarnet is to skiing and downhill what Fosbury is to athletics and high jump!
The egg position allows the skier to glide as smoothly and aerodynamically as possible. It involved studying how skiers glide in the air and the way skis glide along the snow. The aim is to enable the skier to cut through the air and move along the ground as swiftly as possible.
The egg position known as “the Vuarnet egg” or “the VJ egg”: The chest is pressed against the thighs. The gap between the chest and knees enables the legs to absorb bumps with flexibility. Keep the knees and ankles relaxed and the legs supple. The wide gap between the skis makes it possible to stay flat on the snow, an essential condition for smooth sliding. This wide track ensures the two legs can move independently. These conditions accentuate the best aerodynamics! It is also possible to stay in the egg position when your skis leave the ground at a bump. This is called Op-traken. It involves deliberately coming off the ground by pushing on the feet or simply folding the legs under the body.
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
1961-1972: Avoriaz
At the same time as launching his range of sunglasses, Jean Vuarnet became Vice-Chairman of the French Ski Federation, and also took on the role of Chairman of Avoriaz Tourist Office. Jean Vuarnet was aware that Morzine had to deal with the growing popularity of skiing, and had the idea to bring the site up to a higher altitude. So Jean invented Avoriaz at an altitude of 1800 m, as this mountain pasture site guarantees plenty of snow cover and quality skiing until spring! And to think that Avoriaz means “worthless” in the local dialect! An incredible fate and a great irony. This was a seam of gold, the white gold that Avoriaz would be destined to mine. Very soon Jean gained the support of Morzine and started looking for talented people in order to create the unthinkable! Jean had an obsession with the question of “how to develop the mountain without spoiling it”. A mimetic resort that fits in perfectly with the site, a natural extension of the cliffs overlooking Morzine Valley. So Jean and property developer Gérard Brémont enlisted the help of some remarkable architects - Jacques Labro, Jean-Jacques Orzoni and Jean-Marc Roques. Together, they would create an astonishing set of buildings that would later be labelled one of the “remarkable sites of 20th-century architecture”. The buildings are covered with shingles made of Eastern red cedar from Canada, a rot-proof wood that is neither stained nor varnished, and takes on a natural colour when exposed to the elements.
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
In 1960 a mountain pasture In 1961 the start of a pioneering project Christmas 1966 opening of a legendary resort
Avoriaz
First photo, with craftspeople from Avoriaz thinking about the layout of the slopes and cableway.
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
In 2003, the French Ministry of French Culture awarded Avoriaz the distinction of “Major heritage development of the 20th century� The tourist accommodation complexes in Avoriaz blend in with the rocky ground like chameleons. Jean imposed his forward-thinking ideas: he thought the resort should be car-free, an eco-friendly premise that has come to seem very sensible with hindsight! Avoriaz fits into the mountain thanks to its architectural, landscaping and environmental approach, which gives it a unique atmosphere!
A stroke of genius from Jean and his team fifty years ago, when you think how nowadays all the resorts are trying to get rid of cars to respect nature!
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
Originator of the Franco-Swiss ski area “Les Portes du Soleil”
Jean Vuarnet conceived and started up the first European ski space in 1962. Supported by most of the French resorts in Chablais and particularly those on the Swiss side, together they dreamed of giving skiers the chance to set off in the morning and come home in the evening without going on the same slope twice. The cherry on the cake is being able to travel between the Swiss and French resorts and discover a ski area with a total of over 650 km of slopes, passing just above Lake Léman! The Portes du Soleil itinerary is immense, as you alternately ski through walls of ice and slopes of fresh powder! Skiing among the pines on a foggy day is magical. Lose yourself in the Grand Paradis, where the beauty of the site is reminiscent of a naked woman’s body, and where the silence of nature is dizzying! A paradise for lovers of eternal snow.
AN OLYMPIC LEGEND
Jean, Technical Director of the Italian Ski Federation (FISI), 1968-1972 Jean Vuarnet did not content himself with putting his name on a brand of sunglasses or creating Avoriaz. Jean is one of those who want to give sport back what it gave to them. Jean et Gustavo Thรถni
Thus, Jean Vuarnet became
Technical Director of the Italian Ski Teams between 1968 and 1972. At the time Italian skiing was in difficulty, and Jean rebuilt the Italian ski team when it was at rock bottom. A great champion would come out of this: Gustavo Thรถni, who won gold in the giant slalom at the Sapporo Olympics, in 1972, and then became world slalom and giant slalom champion in St. Moritz in 1974! He went on to win the Skiing World Cup four times (1971-1972-1973-1975). Gustavo shared these victories with another great Italian champion, Piero Gros, who most notably won the titles of olympic champion in the slalom in 1976 in Innsbruck and world champion in 1978 in Garmisch in the slalom. Jean was invited by the FISI to the presentation of the Italian teams in 2010. The world of transalpine skiing gave him a real standing ovation. This homage is understandable as Jean Vuarnet established a new comprehensive policy at the time.
The main idea was to establish a collective and rigorous sports organisation, but also to create a “pool of manufacturers” from the winter sports sector within the Italian Ski Federation, with a view to them contributing towards the progress of elite skiing on the peninsula! This was a real success which is still celebrated today by calling this period of Italian victories “La Valanga Azzurra” - the blue avalanche! Indeed, at the time Italy totally ruled the world of skiing!
The great Italian team of the 70s, “Squadra La Valanga Azzurra”
A human adventure, a name that has become a global brand