Jean Claude Killy: skiing to win

It was in the middle of 1966. The Alpine World Championships were held for the first time. Everybody could see that a skier from France, Jean-Claude Killy, was striving for a gold medal in the downhill as well as the overall three-event combined title. The French team was awarded sixteen out of twenty-four possible medals. This was the greatest sports victory.

The country was greeting a new hero: J.-C. Killy – tall, blond, modest, who was to outdo the best ski experts¹ of Austria, Switzerland or any other country! After a three-week rest Killy was training again for the 1967 winter season. For the first time a World Alpine Skiing Cup was going to be held². To become a World Cup champion a skier had to win³ or to place well in the slalom, downhill and giant slalom events throughout the season. Killy wanted that Cup. Jean-Claude felt that success was coming to him. His father dreamed that his son would be a world ski champion. He gave the boy a fine pair of skis and the freedom to use them.

When he was eight years old Jean-Claude won a trophy for ski jumping, at nine he won a gold Chamonix medal. When Killy was ten years old he won a regional race and outdistanced his nearest rival by nine seconds. By the time the 1967 season opened J.-C. Killy was not only in top form physically but was sure he would prove the world that he was the best.⁴

In Adelboden, Switzerland, he won the season’s first giant slalom, giving him twenty-five points in the World Cup standings.

The following year increased his fame by winning three gold medals at the Olympics in Grenoble and his second World Cup. By then Jean-Claude Killy had nothing more to win to prove through further competitions.

He had equalled to Toni Sailer’s three-medal victory at Olympics. At twenty-four the man who was the best in the world retired from the competition.

Notes:

¹ who was to outdo the best ski experts – которому было суждено превзойти самых высоко квалифицированных лыжников

² a World Alpine Skiing Cup was going to be held – должны были состояться соревнования на Кубок Мира по горнолыжному спорту

³ a skier had to win… – лыжник должен был выиграть…

⁴ …was sure he would prove the world that he was the best -… был уверен в том, что докажет миру, что он самый лучший.

Roger Bannister: an athlete to remember

Dr. Roger Gulbert Bannister was the first man to run the mile in under four minutes¹ which in its day was the greatest achievement in athletics.

His career in athletics was short but of great value not only to himself and the sport, but to medical science.

The first that was heard of him was in 1947 when he won the Inter-Varsity Mile² but from this moment he was seldom out of the headlines^3.

He won the Inter-Varsity event again in three following years. In 1950 he won the mile for the British Universities against their American rivals. Though unsuccessful in the 1952 Olympics in 1954 he became the first man to run the distance under four minutes.

But the story of Bannister off the track is more interesting. He ran with a very definite aim – to find out what the human body could stand ⁴. Bannister did more training in front of the cinema screen. He studied every movement, went into the technical problems of defeating runners of equal stamina and speed. To Bannister athletics was not only a sport but a science. His medical knowledge helped him work out tactical schemes to outwit his opponents ⁵.Many milers believe that the start should be slow, no faster than the average speed for the first lap. Bannister thought just the opposite and could prove it theoretically.

Another key to Bannister system lies in the study of opponents. Tactics is not only a study of what you plan to do yourself but also the ability and intentions of your rivals. Before the race he always knew the best times of his opponents. He divided them into sprinters and stayers and into leaders and followers. What he demonstrated and proved is now accepted as sound tactics for the mile.

Notes:

¹ under four minutes – менее четырех минут

² the Inter-Varsity Mile -соревнования в беге на милю между университетами Англии

³ he was seldom out of the headlines –редко его имя не попадало в газетные заголовки

⁴ what the human body could stand – что может вынести организм человека

⁵ to work out tactical schemes to outwit his opponents – разработать тактические схемы, чтобы перехитрить соперников