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Nov.
23, 1999 - Considered the "living" memory
of alpine ski racing until his last day, Serge Lang,
35 years after having created the World Cup with a group
of friends, coaches and racers, remained one of its
strongest promoters.
Born in Alsace, in the eastern part of France, Lang
learned to ski on the summits of the smooth Vosges mountains
soon after he learned to walk. His father, born in Albertville,
in Savoie, was also a passionate skier and enjoyed touring
with his son on the snowy fields in France and Switzerland.
In the 1930s, the first official alpine competitions
took place in the Alps despite the opposition of the
nordic countries. The achievements of the first skiing
heroes, such as Emile Allais, Toni Seelos, James Couttet
and Rudolf Rominger inspired the teenaged Lang, who
also competed in some international races held in Switzerland.
In 1938, Serge Lang attended his first World Championships
at Engelberg, near Lucerne, and he befriended the young
Downhill Champion, James Couttet, who was just 17 years
old.
A journalist during World War II, Lang switched his
focus to sports in the early 1950s and covered all major
skiing events, including all the Olympics until 1994.
He also followed mainstream cycling races including
the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de
Suisse.
It was through cycling that Serge created the idea to
promote competition spanning the entire ski season.
The final outcome would be determined by the accumulation
of individual race performances. He gave it the name
"World Cup" used for the first time in 1966
by the organizers of the football World Championships
in England.
Serge Lang presented his project in July 1965 during
the Tour de France with the support of the French sports
paper L'Equipe. In fact, L'Equipe sponsored a European
Cup during the 1965-66 season, which was won by Austria's
Karl Schranz and France's Marielle Goitschel.
In August 1966, after intensive discussions about the
need to modernize alpine ski racing with top coaches
including Bob Beattie of the United States, Honore Bonnet
of France and Sepp Sulzberger from Austria, the concept
of the new World Cup was presented and accepted by the
International Ski Federation (FIS) president Marc Hodler.
World Cup became an official competition sanctioned
by the FIS during the Congress at Beyrouth in spring
of 1967. With the financial support of the French mineral
company Evian, the World Cup was a huge success from
the start thanks to the great victories of two charismatic
champions, Nancy Greene and Jean Claude Killy. A new
era had begun at that moment for the "white sport."
For 20 years, Serge Lang was the driving force behind
the World Cup as well as its president - all while maintaining
his job as a journalist. His management style was sometimes
tough - and he was often called the "Godfather"
of the World Cup, but he followed his vision and always
acted in the best interest of the sport. He was not
a bureaucrat, but a pioneer and his passion never faded.
Since 1961 Serge Lang was the President of the International
Ski Writer Association which presents the annual "Golden
Ski" to the most remarkable skier of the season.
His passion for communication and creativity took him
in new directions. Ten years ago he took an active part
in the promotion of the new cycling World Cup and, during
the last five years, organized with his company, Sportcom,
the Swiss stage of the Cycling Cup.
On behalf of the FIS, he began managing a "Legends
Tour" of past great champions. In Tignes last October,
he personally presented the new program that will take
place this winter.
During his career, Lang has written numerous books on
skiing and ski racing: He was working on his memoirs
when his heart suddenly decided that it had had enough
of this crazy life. We will miss him a lot.
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