SKIING : Killy Countdown to ’92 Games at One Year

A year from today, the French Alps will come alive with the sound of skis, skates and sleds as the 16th Winter Olympic Games get under way in and around the previously anonymous village of Albertville.

Presiding prominently over the 16 days of competition will be France’s premier living athletic hero, Jean-Claude Killy, who swept three gold medals in Alpine skiing the last time the Games were held in France, at Grenoble in 1968. Killy, 47, is president of the organizing committee and, appropriately, co-designer of the new Bellevarde men’s downhill course that will receive its official pre-Olympic christening this weekend.

The track, at Val d’Isere, is the site of World Cup men’s downhills today and Saturday, followed by a super-G Sunday. Snow and poor visibility on the upper half caused the cancellation of final practice Thursday, but after training runs the previous two days, many of the racers said the 1.8-mile-long course was a bit on the slow side.

Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, the current World Cup leader, told the Associated Press: “There are some parts you can get some speed on, but it is more for the technical skiers because there are so many turns. Then, too, Calgary had a technical course (in the 1988 Winter Olympics), and nobody complained too much about it.”

During a recent visit to Los Angeles, Killy said: “Bernhard Russi is mainly responsible for creating the men’s downhill course, and it is a good one--80% of the race will be visible from the finish line, right in the middle of town.”

Russi, of Switzerland, has some background in the matter, having succeeded Killy as Olympic downhill champion in 1972 at Sapporo, Japan, then finishing second to Austrian Franz Klammer in ’76 at Innsbruck.

Other former Olympic skiers who have been assisting Killy on COJO, the French acronym for the committee, are Guy Perillat, Georges Mauduit and Perrine Pelen, all of the host nation.

Four of the five Olympic men’s Alpine races will be held in Val d’Isere, with only the slalom set for Les Menuires. All of the women’s Alpine events will be at Meribel.

A total of 13 venues in the Savoie are being made ready for competition, housing, communications and administration during the ’92 Winter Games, including four others for skiing--Tignes, freestyle; Les Arcs, speed demonstration; Les Saisies, cross-country and biathlon, and Courchevel, jumping and Nordic combined.

Killy, who shares leadership of COJO with Chairman Michel Barnier, said that in the last three years the estimated cost of the Games has escalated “from 3.2 billion French francs to 4 billion French francs.” At today’s exchange rate, the latter figure translates to about $800 million.

“Our goal is to break even,” Killy added. “And I think there is a good chance that we will.”

In addition to the direct Olympic expenses, another $1 billion is being spent on highway, railroad and airport expansion in the region.

A little more than two weeks after his selection as president of COJO in early 1987, Killy resigned during a dispute over the consolidation of venues. He returned the following year when, Killy said, “Prime Minister (Jacques) Chirac helped to arrange a compromise.”

Killy, who also owns two large ski shops in France and heads Killy Technical Eyewear, has given most of his attention to COJO for the last three years. His wife, Daniele Gaubert, with whom he starred in a 1972 movie, “Snow Job,” died of cancer in 1987. They had a daughter, Emilie, now 19, and Killy also adopted a son and a daughter from his wife’s previous marriage to Rhadames Trujillo, son of the former dictator of the Dominican Republic.

In a recent magazine interview, the normally private Killy said of Daniele: “She was the love of my life, the girl of my life for 20 years. I was going to retire with my wife and live forever, well organized and with enough money, forever. That did not happen, but it is not all bad. Everything has changed without her, but not only in negative ways. Some things are positive, some things I understand better.

“We are not here for long. There are five, six billions on the earth, and none of us are here for long. My excitement, my commitment, now comes from the occupation of the moment, only the moment.”

The realization of his occupation of this moment is exactly 365 days away.

Diana Golden, who won 29 gold medals in national and international competition for disabled skiers, received the Flo Hyman Award from the Women’s Sports Foundation Thursday in Washington.

Golden, 27, lost her right leg to cancer when she was 12 but resumed racing and went on to win the gold medal in the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary, where disabled skiing was a demonstration event. She retired recently and is a marketing associate with Aspen Highlands, Colo.

The award is named for Flo Hyman, an Olympic volleyball player who died during a match in 1986. Previous recipients were Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Evelyn Ashford and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Up to a foot of snow fell in the Sierra Nevada earlier this week, improving conditions from Lake Tahoe to Mammoth Mountain and enabling Yosemite’s Badger Pass, for one, to reopen.

Mammoth is reporting a base of 9 to 19 inches, Heavenly Valley 14 to 45 inches and Squaw Valley 18 to 36 inches--to cite a few examples.

In the Southland, Bear Mountain, Snow Summit, Snow Valley and Mountain High continue to operate daily.

Skiing Notes

Channel 2 will televise the action at Val d’Isere, delayed, Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. . . . Bob Beattie will interview Brian Stemmle, the Canadian who is racing again after suffering a broken pelvis and other injuries in a downhill spill two years ago, on “Subaru Ski World” today at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN.

The women on the World Cup circuit, led by defending champion Petra Kronberger of Austria, are in Germany for a downhill and a super-G today and Saturday at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, followed by a giant slalom Sunday at Zwiesel. . . . Eva Twardokens of Santa Cruz, Calif., gave the United States its best result in the World Alpine Ski Championships at Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, placing fifth behind winner Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden in the women’s giant slalom last Saturday. Heidi Voelker of Pittsfield, Mass., finished eighth behind Vreni Schneider of Switzerland in the slalom a day earlier.

The top U.S. skier in the men’s giant slalom last Sunday, closing day of the World Championships, was Rob Parisien of Auburn, Me., who came in 25th behind Rudi Nierlich of Austria. . . . The American racers, men and women, will all be at Crested Butte, Colo., Monday through Feb. 17 for the U.S. Alpine Championships. . . . Fifteen years ago today, West Germany’s Rosi Mittermaier, known as “Mama,” won the Olympic women’s downhill at Innsbruck; she took a second gold medal in the slalom and the silver in the giant slalom.

The weeklong World Freestyle Ski Championships begin Monday at Lake Placid, N.Y. The 21-skier U.S. team includes World Cup mogul champion Donna Weinbrecht of West Milford, N.J., and World Cup ballet champion Jan Bucher of Salt Lake City.

Gunde Svan of Sweden won the men’s 30-kilometer classical style cross-country race Thursday as the World Nordic Ski Championships opened an 11-day stand at Val di Fiemme, Italy. It was the ninth world title for Svan, 29, who edged defending champion Vladimir Smirnov of the Soviet Union by 4.9 seconds. . . . The fastest American was Todd Boonstra of Burlington, Vt., who finished 33rd.

Bernhard Knauss of Austria continued his domination of the U.S. Pro Tour by sweeping last weekend’s races at Squaw Valley. He defeated Torjus Berge of Norway in the final each day. Next stop for the male pros is Winter Park, Colo. . . . The Women’s Pro Ski circuit will swing by Keystone, Colo., for the weekend. . . . ESPN will show taped highlights of the recent U.S. Pro Tour event at Snow Summit today at 5 p.m., and of the Squaw Valley meet Saturday at 2 p.m.

The California Special Olympics Southern Sectional Winter Games will be held at Bear Mountain next Tuesday through Thursday. . . . Mammoth Mountain will play host to the Infiniti Connoisseur Ski Invitational Saturday and Sunday, and to the Ray-Ban Great Race Series next Thursday. . . . Corbin Bernsen, George Carlin, Gary Cole, Jim Palmer, George Peppard and Charlene Tilton are among the confirmed entrants in the Plymouth Celebrity races, benefiting the Starlight Foundation, today through Sunday at Heavenly Valley. . . . Corporate teams will compete in the Ski Classic 1991 today through Sunday at Squaw Valley.