James Couttet (1921-1997)
Birthplace:
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Haute-Savoie, France
Born:
July 6, 1921
Died:
November 13, 1997
James Couttet, born July 6, 1921 in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in the hamlet of Bossons, and died November 13, 1997 in the same town, was a French alpine skier and mountaineer, member of the Club des Sports Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. James Couttet was world downhill champion in March 1938 at the age of 16 and a half, then dominated the first post-war competitions with three victories at Arlberg-Kandahar in 1947, 1948 and 1950 and two K diamond. Favorite at the 1948 Olympic Games and the 1950 World Championships, he did not win any Olympic and world titles: the Second World War will undoubtedly have cost the French a few gold medals. He retired from alpine competition in 1955 and trained the French alpine ski team at the Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956. He then contributed to the organization of the 1962 alpine skiing world championships in Chamonix. In 1962, he launched in Marseilles with the engineer Denis Creissels the “telescaphe” project, an underwater cable car intended for the discovery of the waters of the Mediterranean. Inaugurated in 1967, the telescaphe carried 31,000 tourists before closing the following year. James Couttet died on November 13, 1997 in Chamonix. Twenty years later, a plaque bearing his name was placed at the foot of the Bossons glacier.