François Bonlieu

François Bonlieu (born March 21, 1937 in Juvincourt-et-Damary , † August 18, 1973 in Cannes ) was a French ski racer . Bonlieu had been a member of the French national ski team since he was 15.

At the Alpine World Ski Championships in 1954 in Åre he won silver and in 1958 at the World Championships in Bad Gastein bronze in the giant slalom . He celebrated his greatest success when he won gold in the giant slalom at the 1964 Olympic Games in Innsbruck, ahead of Karl Schranz and Josef Stiegler .

In 1958 and 1959 Bonlieu was four times French champion - twice in giant slalom and once each in slalom and combined . He also won on 10 March 1963 at the slalom and in the combined (hence "Diamond Honor") in the in Chamonix driven Kandahar race , already on February 8, 1959, he had the Kandahar Slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen won. On January 6, 1964, he won the slalom in Hindelang .

When he first started, he was already world champion in the giant slalom, which was completed in two runs (January 31, 1965 at the Gschwandtkopf in Seefeld in Tyrol ); he won 0.47 seconds ahead of Hias Leitner ( Mathias Leitner ); 3rd place went to Adrien Duvillard ; the best Swiss was Roland Bläsi in 8th place. After the first run, Leitner was 0.14 seconds ahead of Bonlieu.

At the age of 36, Bonlieu was killed in an argument in Cannes. His sister Edith Bonlieu was married to downhill Olympic champion Jean Vuarnet - she and her son became victims of the Sun Temple sect.

Web links

François Bonlieu in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
François Bonlieu in the database of Ski-DB (English)
François Bonlieu in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

↑ Arbeiterzeitung Wien of February 10, 1959, March 12, 1963 and January 8, 1964.
^ "Bonlieu professional world champion straight away" in "Welt und Sport" (Monday edition of the "Volkszeitung Kärnten") No. 891 of February 1, 1965, page 2
^ "The alpine race at the crossroads" and the subtitle "No market value for the beaten" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 2, 1965, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).

personal data
SURNAME	Bonlieu, François
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH	March 21, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH	Juvincourt-et-Damary
DATE OF DEATH	18th August 1973
Place of death	Cannes

[1] Arbeiterzeitung Wien of February 10, 1959, March 12, 1963 and January 8, 1964.

[2] "Bonlieu professional world champion straight away" in "Welt und Sport" (Monday edition of the "Volkszeitung Kärnten") No. 891 of February 1, 1965, page 2

[3] "The alpine race at the crossroads" and the subtitle "No market value for the beaten" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 2, 1965, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).