Olympic skiing champion Vuarnet dies

French Olympic skiing champion Jean Vuarnet, who helped pioneer the aerodynamic tuck position for downhill racers, has died aged 83.

Vuarnet, who won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics, died of a stroke in Sallanches in the French Alps.

He invented the aerodynamic 'egg position' used by ski racers and worked with optician Roger Pouilloux on the Skilynx lens that allowed enhanced perception of contrasts in white-out conditions, launching the Vuarnet sunglasses brand.

Vuarnet's wife Edith Bonlieu, a former French ski champion, and their son Patrick were among the members of a cult, the Order of the Solar Temple, who committed mass suicide in 1994.