Killy and Putin

The first time I heard about Jean-Claude Killy was during the French ski championships that took place in Morzine, France, in 1961. Since then, after Killy became world champion in Portillo before his historical medal sweep in Grenoble, he simply became my hero and my role-model.

I worked briefly with him while I was associated with Look bindings and Lange boots and he went on to do greater and even better things in the sport marketing field and the Olympics.

A recent interview of my hero in a French newspaper was all about the special relationship that developed between him and Putin around the Sochi Olympics, and in that interview, Jean-Claude spoke in extremely flattering terms about the Russian head of state, while conventional wisdom sees him as a ruthless dictator that, aside from his marketing-shaped image, might be worth a paltry $70 billion!

This push by Killy to make Putin holier than thou is obviously suspect and might be - among other reasons - a way to placate the $50 billions spent on the upcoming Sochi Olympics that, with little doubt, are likely to become Vladimir Putin lasting legacy...