Charles Bozon
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 December 1932 Chamonix, France |
| Died | 7 July 1964 (aged 31) Aiguille Verte, France |
| Occupation | Alpine skier |
| Skiing career | |
| Disciplines | Downhill, giant slalom slalom, combined |
| Club | Chamonix |
| Olympics | |
| Teams | 2 – (1956, 1960) |
| Medals | 1 (0 gold) |
| World Championships | |
| Teams | 4 – (1956, 1958, 1960, 1962) includes Olympics |
| Medals | 4 (1 gold) |
Medal record | |
Charles Bozon Jr. (15 December 1932 – 7 July 1964) was an alpine ski racer and world champion from France.[1]
Career
[edit]Born in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, Bozon won a gold medal in the slalom at the 1962 World Championships, held at his hometown of Chamonix in a snowstorm.[2] Earlier, he had won a bronze medal in the slalom at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California,[3] and two world championship silver medals in the combined in 1956 and 1960. Bozon suffered fractured vertebra in the giant slalom at the world championships in 1958 and vowed not to compete again.[4] He did not compete in the Olympics in 1964.[5]
Death
[edit]Bozon died in 1964 at age 31 in a mountain climbing accident near Mont Blanc. He and 13 climbing companions were killed in an avalanche on the Aiguille Verte, a 4,122-metre (13,524 ft) mountain in the Mont Blanc massif.[6] The climbing party had reached an elevation of about 2,700 m (9,000 ft) when the avalanche occurred.[5] Bozon's father, Charles, Sr., had died on the same slope in an avalanche in 1938.[7]
Less than three months earlier, an avalanche in Switzerland claimed the lives of two noted alpine racers, Buddy Werner of the U.S. and Barbi Henneberger of West Germany.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ Bennett, Bill (22 January 1963). "Frenchman Charles Bozon dedicated ski specialist". Montreal Gazette. p. 23.
- ^ "Speedy French star wins world slalom". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. 14 February 1962. p. 14.
- ^ "1960 Winter Olympics – Squaw Valley, United States – Alpine skiing" Archived 2007-08-19 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved on February 28, 2008)
- ^ "U.S. ski hopes are disqualified". St. Petersburg Times. 14 February 1962. p. 3-C.
- ^ a b "Alpine avalanche kills 14 climbers". Tuscaloosa (AL) News. Associated Press. 7 July 1964. p. 1.
- ^ "Snow slide in Alps kills 14 climbers". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. 8 July 1964. p. 1.
- ^ "Avalanche kills French ski champ, Charles Bozon". Eugene Register-Guard. UPI. 8 July 1964. p. 9.
- ^ "Ski star killed racing avalanche". Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. 13 April 1964. p. 1.
External links
[edit]- Charles Bozon at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
- Charles Bozon at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Charles Bozon at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
 | This biographical article relating to alpine skiing in France is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a Winter Olympic medalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  | This article about a French Olympic medalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1932 births
- 1964 deaths
- French male alpine skiers
- Olympic alpine skiers for France
- Olympic bronze medalists for France
- Olympic medalists in alpine skiing
- Medalists at the 1960 Winter Olympics
- Alpine skiers at the 1960 Winter Olympics
- Alpine skiers at the 1956 Winter Olympics
- Sportspeople from Chamonix
- Skiers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
- Deaths in avalanches
- Natural disaster deaths in France
- 20th-century French sportsmen
- French alpine skiing biography stubs
- Winter Olympic medalist stubs
- French Olympic medalist stubs