"The Temptations of Jean-Claude Killy" is an article published in the premiere issue of ''

Scanlan's Monthly ''Scanlan's Monthly'' was a monthly publication which ran from March 1970 to January 1971. The publisher was Scanlan's Literary House. Edited by Warren Hinckle III and Sidney Zion, it featured politically controversial muckraking and was ultimate ...

'' in March 1970, written by Hunter S. Thompson. The subject of the article is

Jean-Claude Killy Jean-Claude Killy (born 30 August 1943) is a French former World Cup alpine ski racer. He dominated the sport in the late 1960s, and was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics, becoming the most su ...

, the alpine skiing champion who, in the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...

, became the second alpine skier ever to win three gold medals in a single olympic games. By the time of the article Killy, then 26, was retired from skiing and had embarked on the next phase of his career— endorsements. Thompson's article follows Killy around the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

during his marketing tour for the Chevrolet automotive company. As he attends automotive shows, holds press conferences, and makes appearances for

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

(all in conjunction with fellow Chevrolet spokesman, O. J. Simpson) Thompson chronicles the newly flush world of celebrity sports endorsements. Though endorsement by a sports figure was not an entirely new concept, the world-wide magnitude of Killy's stardom made his Chevrolet contract something of a fascination for Thompson. The article's focus on the relative depths of the new pitch-man status obtained by Killy so shortly after the incredible heights he had achieved develops through acerbic descriptions of the settings Killy finds himself in, the automotive executives that profit by him, and the

fans Fan commonly refers to: * Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling ** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling * Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...

and onlookers who make him such a valuable spokesman. Through it all, Killy's focus on his own enormous profit is a source of worry to Thompson. The trend he sees developing is one of larger-than-life stars—athletes of the highest physical standards who have achieved feats unimaginable by normal people—demeaning themselves and their accomplishments by agreeing to shill for a few extra dollars. An enormous sports fan himself, Thompson is distraught by this turn of events and wonders that Killy was never quite sure "why I was embarrassed ''for him'' in those scenes." Thompson compares Killy to

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

's Gatsby: although, unlike that character, Killy's dollars are earned honestly, the author concludes while watching Killy's selling of himself that "nothing in his narrow, high-powered experience can allow him to understand how I can watch his act and say that it looks, to me, like a very hard dollar—maybe the hardest." The article was later included in Thompson's collection ''

The Great Shark Hunt ''The Great Shark Hunt'' is a book by Hunter S. Thompson. Originally published in 1979 as ''Gonzo Papers, Vol. 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time'', the book is a roughly 600-page collection of Thompson's essays from 1956 t ...

'' (1979).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Temptations of Jean-Claude Killy, The Magazine articles by Hunter S. Thompson 1970 documents