Serge Lang (skiing)
Encyclopedia
Serge Lang was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, alpine skier, and the founder of the alpine skiing World Cup
Alpine skiing World Cup
The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France and the USA...
. As a journalist he covered alpine skiing, cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
, and other sports for five major publications. In the mid 1960s, he envisioned a season-long series of ski races, which became the World Cup skiing circuit. He continued to guide the growth of the World Cup and the sport of ski racing over the next two decades.
Early years
Jean-Jacques "Serge" Lang was born in June 1920 in MulhouseMulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
, Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, in eastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He moved with his parents to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in 1921, where his father Albert became director of the French train station located in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
. Lang learned to ski before the age of 7 in Markstein, in the Vosges Mountains
Vosges mountains
For the department of France of the same name, see Vosges.The Vosges are a range of low mountains in eastern France, near its border with Germany. They extend along the west side of the Rhine valley in a northnortheast direction, mainly from Belfort to Saverne...
with his father Albert and his mother, Friedl. He competed in ski races during his youth.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he remained in Switzerland and worked as a journalist in Basel, where he also founded a film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
named "le Bon Film" with his friend Peter Baechlin. After the war he covered the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
in 1946 and wrote the first biography of Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
, Nazi Germany's chief racial theorician who was executed in October 1946. As a correspondent for the leading French evening paper Le Soir
Le Soir
Le Soir is a Berliner Format Belgian newspaper. Le Soir was founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel. It is the most popular Francophone newspaper in Belgium, and considered a newspaper of record.-Editorial stance:...
, Lang also attended a variety of sporting events after reporting on the 1948 Winter Olympics
1948 Winter Olympics
The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated in 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the first to be celebrated after World War II; it had been twelve years since the last Winter Games in 1936...
at St. Moritz, especially alpine skiing
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
and cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
.
The birth of the World Cup
In the mid 1960s, he had the idea for a season-long series of ski races with a points system to determine a champion after being requested by former Tour de France and sportspaper L'ÉquipeL'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
director Jacques Goddet to "invent somethings which would help our readers to better understand ski racing alpine circuit". In December 1965, L'Équipe launched the first (unofficial) European ski circuit named "Trophée de L'Equipe", which was won by France's Marielle Goitschel
Marielle Goitschel
Marielle Goitschel is a former French alpine skier. Marielle is the younger sister of Christine Goitschel, another champion skier of the time, and the aunt of current speed skier Philippe Goitschel....
and Austria's Karl Schranz
Karl Schranz
Karl Schranz is a former champion alpine ski racer, one of the best in the 1960s.During his lengthy career , Schranz won twenty major downhills, many major giant slalom races and several major slaloms...
. Lang, after discussing it with some of his friends Bob Beattie, the US Alpine Director, and Honoré Bonnet, Head Coach of the French Ski Team, during a downhill training session of the famous "Hahnenkamm" races at Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel
-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...
, Austria, in January 1966, decided that it should become a world tour. He choose to name it the "World Cup
Alpine skiing World Cup
The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France and the USA...
" after the football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
world championships held in England in 1966, which were the first to be called World Cup.
That same summer, the ski World Championships
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1966
The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1966 were held in Portillo, Chile, from August 4–14, 1966.To this day, it remains as the only alpine world championship contested in the southern hemisphere...
were held in August for the first time in Portillo, Chile
Portillo, Chile
Portillo is a ski resort located from Santiago, Chile, near the city of Los Andes. It rises 2880 meters above sea level and its highest point reaches 3332 meters above sea level. Ski Portillo has 23 ski trails and 12 lifts....
, during the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
winter. This provided an opportunity for all the major figures in ski racing to come together including as Bob Beattie, Alpine Director of the United States Ski Team
United States Ski Team
The United States Ski Team, operated under the auspices of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association , develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, adaptive alpine, freestyle skiing, cross country, adaptive cross country, ski jumping, and nordic combined....
, and Honoré Bonnet, head of the French Alpine Ski Team, and hash out the details of the proposed competition with a few skiers such as Frenchmen Jean-Claude Killy
Jean-Claude Killy
Jean-Claude Killy was an alpine ski racer, who dominated the sport in the late 1960s. He was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there...
and Guy Périllat
Guy Périllat
Guy Périllat is a former alpine ski racer from the resort of La Clusaz, Haute-Savoie, one of the top ski racers of the 1960s....
or Austrian Karl Schranz. The President of the International Ski Federation
International Ski Federation
The International Ski Federation, known by its name in French, Fédération Internationale de Ski is the main international organisation for ski sports...
(FIS), Marc Hodler
Marc Hodler
Marc Hodler was a Swiss lawyer, President of the International Ski Federation , member of the International Olympic Committee from 1963 until his death, and bridge player...
from Switzerland, agreed to support the new event which he personally presented to the press in Chile.
The first (still unofficial) World Cup season began next winter with the men's competitions at Berchtesgaden, Germany, on January 5, 1967. The first overall winners at the end of that season were Nancy Greene
Nancy Greene
Nancy Catherine Greene, OC, OBC, OD is a Canadian Senator for British Columbia and a champion alpine skier voted as Canada's Female Athlete of the 20th Century...
of Canada, and France's Jean-Claude Killy. The World Cup became an official event sanctioned by FIS next spring during its Congress at Beirut, Lebanon. Marc Hodler became the first president of the World Cup Committee until 1973.
Later years
The alpine skiing World Cup soon became a huge success with ski racing fans, racers, organizers and ski suppliers. Lang continued to guide its growth over the following decades, serving as president of the International Ski FederationInternational Ski Federation
The International Ski Federation, known by its name in French, Fédération Internationale de Ski is the main international organisation for ski sports...
's Alpine World Cup committee from 1973 to 1986. He also continued working as a sports journalist for Blick
Blick
Blick is a German-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Zürich, Switzerland since 1959 by Ringier.It has a circulation of 275,000 and a readership of 750,000 . Only the free daily 20 Minuten has a higher circulation in Switzerland....
, La Suisse, 24 Heures, and L'Équipe
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
, and founded the Association of International Ski Journalists in 1961. Lang wrote several books about ski racing and the World Cup, including the annual Ski World Cup Guide (popularly known as the "Biorama") with World Cup statistics and racer biographies, and the retrospective 21 Years of World Cup Ski Racing published in 1986. Lang lived his later years in Riehen
Riehen
Riehen is a municipality in the canton of Basel-Stadt in Switzerland. Together with the city of Basel and Bettingen, Riehen is one of three municipalities in the canton....
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and apparently died of a heart attack in Sternenberg
Sternenberg
Sternenberg is a municipality in the district of Pfäffikon in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.-Geography:Sternenberg has an area of . Of this area, 37.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 58% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.8% is settled and the remainder is non-productive...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
while writing his memoirs in November 1999. His son, Patrick, is also a journalist covering alpine ski racing. The Lang legacy continues with two of his grand children, Manuèle (born 1974) and Philippe-Alexandre (born 1978) also working on the World Cup tour and cycling as reporters and cameraman. In 1991 three generations of the family worked at the Tour de France, certainly a unique performance: both Patrick Lang and his then 16-year-old daughter worked for ABC Sports while Serge Lang covered the race for some of his usual newspapers.