World Cup Founder Serge Lang Dies
A Man of Passion
June 6, 1920 - Nov. 21, 1999 |
Serge Lang, Novenber,1999 (Photo: Kiyoko Hata)
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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.
His loving son, Patrick Lang
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