Jean Vuarnet is a former ski racer

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...

 from 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...

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Career

The high point of his career came in the 1960 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held in Squaw Valley, California, U.S.A., from February 20–26, 1960.These were the last Olympics with times recorded in tenths of a second; times in 1964 were recorded in hundredths....

 in Squaw Valley

Squaw Valley, California

Squaw Valley, California may refer to:*Squaw Valley, Fresno County, California, census-designated place located in Fresno County, California*Squaw Valley, Placer County, California, community in Placer County, California and host of the 1960 Winter Olympics...

, where he won the gold medal in the downhill

Downhill

Downhill is an alpine skiing discipline. The rules for the Downhill were originally developed by Sir Arnold Lunn for the 1921 British National Ski Championships....

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Previously, he had won bronze in the same event at the 1958 World Ski Championships in Bad Gastein

Bad Gastein

Bad Gastein is a spa town in the Austrian state of Salzburg, situated at the northern rim of the Hohe Tauern national park. It has 5,838 inhabitants. The name "Bad" means "spa", reflecting the town's history as a health resort. It is located at the head of the Gastein valley, about 1,000 metres ...

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After he had retired from active competition, Vuarnet became vice-president of the French skiing association from 1962 to 1971.

Business

In the early sixties Jean Vuarnet was asked by his hometown of Morzine

Morzine

Morzine is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France with panoramic mountain views, modern ski facilities and hotels and restaurants. The ski resort of Avoriaz is located on the territory of the commune...

 to help develop the skiing-area around the town. He did that by creating the purposebuild resort of Avoriaz together with a group of young architects. Around Avoriaz he developed a new area for alpine skiing later linked to other areas in France and Switzerland known as The Portes du Soleil

Portes du Soleil

Les Portes du Soleil is a major skisports destination in the northern French alps encompassing thirteen resorts between Mont Blanc in France and Lake Geneva in Switzerland...

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Jean Vurarnet's has given name to the exclusive Vuarnet sunglasses

Vuarnet sunglasses

Vuarnet is an eyewear brand, owned and manufactured by Sporoptic Pouilloux, S.A. based in France. The brand was developed from the invention of the Skilynx lens in 1957 by French opticians Roger Pouilloux and Joseph Hatchiguian...

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Personal life

In 1958, he married Edith Bonlieu, three-time French women's ski champion.
His wife Édith and his youngest son Patrick were among the members of the Order of the Solar Temple

Order of the Solar Temple

The Order of the Solar Temple also known as Ordre du Temple Solaire in French, and the International Chivalric Organization of the Solar Tradition or simply as The Solar Temple was a secret society based upon the modern myth of the continuing existence of the Knights Templar...

cult who committed suicide in 1994.