Athlete profile: Leila Piccard

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

While she has shown flashes of brilliance throughout her career, Leila finally became worthy of the Piccard name in 1997...now, the girl named after the Eric Clapton song Layla will look to bring her competitors to their knees in Nagano, 10 years after her brother Franck won the first two of his three Olympic medals -- gold in the Super G and bronze in the downhill at Calgary...Leila earned her first major championship medal last year, finishing third in the giant slalom at the '97 World Championships in Sestriere, Italy...the only girl out of seven children in the first family of French skiing, Leila has continued her surge this season, pleasing home crowds at Tignes and Val d'Isère...she posted the first World Cup win of her career in Tignes, winning the season's inaugural parallel slalom Events...she defeated Germany's Katja Seizinger in the first round and Swede Ylva Nowen in the final en route to her win...after placing ninth in the season's first giant slalom in Park City, Piccard returned home to finish third in the giant slalom at Val d'Isère..."I haven't had a lot of self-confidence," explains Piccard of her slow rise to fame. "I was always missing it a little, but I got it after the World Championships"...her coach, Michel Vion, adds, "People have often criticized her for not having the will to win. But she showed that to not be true by skiing the fastest second leg (in Sestriere)"...her confidence restored, Piccard's next goal is to improve her consistency..."I really have to improve mentally," she says. "It's the same preparation for me always, mainly in my head. I am taking each race one at a time and am trying to peak at the right time"...after a miserable Olympic Games four years ago, Piccard is cautious about elevating her hopes too high for Nagano...the French national giant slalom champion in 1994, Piccard qualified for the second run of both the slalom and giant slalom in Lillehammer, but went off course in each...such unEventsful results have turned off at least one member of the French sporting media..."Leila Piccard is so inconsistent; one day on top, one day on bottom," says Navarro Gilles of L'Équipe, France's premier sporting daily. "I don't think she has a real big chance at a medal (in Nagano)"...since Lillehammer, Piccard has worked diligently on her technical skiing, to move her slalom alongside her best Events, the giant slalom..."I don't have too much preference between the disciplines," claims Piccard, who has finished third in a World Cup slalom at Meribel in ‘95. "I have to do two though. I need to do two technical disciplines to maintain my form and my concentration"...Piccard's father, René, is very fond of the United States and gave all of his children Americanized names: Franck, Jeff, Ted, John, Karl, Leila, and Ian...Ted and John were named for the Kennedys, Franck for Frank Sinatra...Jeff and Ian may compete in Nagano...Leila did not mind being the only girl-child -- "I was always getting the attention," she says. "Each of the brothers has four other brothers but they only have one sister"...she did mind her last name for a while as the pressure of being "Franck's little sister" was not easy to bear early in her career..."When I was young, yes, it was difficult because there were a lot of people waiting for the name Piccard," Leila explains. "Franck made the name Piccard known. It was a big weight on my shoulders. But now it is not a problem, I have proven that I am my own person"...besides having to battle the expectations of the Piccard name, Leila has also had to overcome serious injuries early in her career, to her left knee in 1989 and to her left shoulder in 1991...Leila has numerous hobbies including riding motorcycles and playing the piano but, her favorite way to spend time is cooking and eating desserts..."I just adore chocolate, pastries, cheese, everything," she says. "My biggest weakness is eating. I hate coming to America because the food has no taste"...not surprisingly, Leila owns a Clapton album with Layla on it...she does not speak English...