Jean Claude Killy on Val d'Isere 2009, the nation's cup and Bode Miller

Jean Claude Killy on Val d’Isere 2009, the nation’s cup and Bode MillerJean Claude Killy swept the gold medals at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, raising the profile of the sport immeasurably with his sportsmanship, style and fearlessness. Since then he has been, among other things, a committed member of the International Olympic Committee, an top organizer of the 1992 Olympics in Albertville and, most recently, a leader of Val d’Isere’s successful bid for the 2009 alpine World Championships. During the men’s World Cups in his hometown of earlier this month, he took a few minutes to chat with Ski Racing. To see the rest of this interview, in which Killy discusses how to rise to the occasion of big races, and the future of the 1992 Olympic downhill track, see Issue #8 of Ski Racing Magazine.

SKI RACING: Val d’Isere is your hometown still, correct?
JEAN CLAUDE KILLY: Yes, you see Killy Sports? That’s my dad’s shop, started in ’47. It was not that shop, it was a shop about that big. My dad died about two years ago, and my brother runs the family business. I go back and forth, because I have other occupations, but my base is Val d’Isere.

SR: What are the plans for the 2009 alpine world championships in Val d’Isere?
JCK: There are three pillars: 1.) The ‘Face-to-face’ men and women [the men’s race hill and the women’s race hill on two slopes, facing each other across the valley, with a more or less common finish area]. 2.) Val d’Isere without cars. We’ve got to do that at some point, we just can’t take it anymore. So we’ve got to build a garage and restrict the circulation. And we want to position this world championship inside the environment. We want to protect and improve the environment, and we believe we can. We are going to design a new women’s downhill on the piste A. We need to cut some trees over there. We also need to replace some trees. It’s a commitment to an excellent relationship to the environment. The championship will be held inside a 800-meter circle, which is kind of nice. You can go to the press center, the athletes’ hotel, the media center, to the press center, to the press accommodations. And the finish areas combined the ten events. So we hope it will be a very unique world championship.

SR: What can be done to make alpine ski racing more popular?
JCK: We are trying to put skiing back into prime time every once in awhile. It works very well, but you can’t do it every night. And you probably have to design new events, in order to see the skiers more than once maybe two or three times a day. But it has its charm. That’s the way it is. If they want to keep it that way, I have nothing against that. We need to interest bigger sponsors. And having Bode Miller is promising good (good help for skiing). Lance Armstrong is doing for bicycling in the states, what Greg Lemond did, is put it on ABC. He left, and bicycling also left the big screen. So we need the athletes’ personalities. Not easy. Not an easy task.

SR: Do you think Bode Miller is something special?
JCK: I think so. I think he is. He has fooled a lot of people, thinking he is a fantasist. He’s not. He’s a very strong skier. He has the basics. What it takes to be a skier. He has it. But it doesn’t show at first sight. He’s more relaxed. Now he’s putting it all together, slowly but surely, and what emerge from that is a terrific skier. We all thought Bode was not concentrating on it, or just not committed to it. But he was probably so much more than people thought committed to it. Plus he’s testing the magnificent task of victories. When you’re winning, you want to win more.