For the 1972 winter Olympics in Sapporo, Descente commissioned Kazumasa Nagai, the illustrious graphic designer who created the SapporoOlympics logo, to design a motif for the its Olympic ski wear. The result was his “Kiryu”, or “Dazzling Flow” design, which was worn by the Japanese National Team and the Spanish Alpine Ski Team. This Kiryu Line, as it came to be known, which was worn by the Spanish skier Francisco Fernåndez Ochoa when he won gold in the men’ s slalom event at Sapporo, was the predecessor Descente’ s “Action Line” design motif. It attracted a great deal of attention at the time as a vibrant work of art that lifted the ski wear beyond simple consideration of functionality and fashion. The Spanish Team dazzled again in 1976, when their team wear featured the bright, rainbow colored design that became known as the “Rainbow Kiryu”, which had a powerful impact on perceptions of what ski wear should look like. In the more than 40 years of Descente’ s supplier relationship with the Spanish National Team, their cooperation and support in the development of trend-setting functional and fashionable wear has been an enormous benefit to the evolution of Descente’ s ski wear.

Francisco Fernåndez Ochoa won the gold medal in the men’ s slalom event at the Sapporo Winter Olympics in 1972. Twenty years later, his sister, Blanca Fernåndez Ochoa, kept up the team tradition when she tied for a bronze medal in the Womens Slalom at the Albertville Winter Olympics.