Georgette Thiollière-Miller

Georgette Thiollière was born in Chamonix, France and first learned to ski as a young child. In her youth, she also enjoyed mountain climbing. Taking up skiing seriously in 1941 on the advice of Émile Allais, she had won multiple major European titles including the French Ski Championships for women twice, as well as the women’s ski championship of Europe by 1947. That same year, Thiollière became the war bride of Russell Miller of Boston, marrying in Plymouth after husband’s graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). That same year, she also won the Harriman Cup Races at Sun Valley in the United States. In February 1948, she was selected along with her sister Suzanne Thiollière to represent her birth country at the Winter Olympics in Sankt Moritz, competing in the slalom and downhill events, barely missing out of a bronze medal in the former, finishing fourth. Her brother, ski jumper Henri Thiollière also went in 1948, but did not compete.

Following the Olympics, Thiollière-Miller permanently settled in the United States, residing in the states of Washington, Idaho and Nevada before settling in Los Angeles while her husband worked as a mining engineer. Her last major competition wins were the World Alpine Ski Championships in 1950, winning bronze in the downhill event, and the United States Slalom National Championship at Sun Valley, also in 1950. She became a naturalized American citizen in 1958, and by 1959, was working as a clothing designer in Los Angeles, having also previously done freelance work in New York. She also filmed ski scenes for local film productions. Thiollière-Miller continued to reside in the Los Angeles area until her death in 2010.