/IMGA Board Member: 3rd Term/ IOC member, Former President of The International Rowing Federation (FISA)

Education

Law, Universities of Neuchâtel and Zurich (Switzerland) and Cambridge (Great Britain); degree (1970); qualification as lawyer (1973); doctorate (1977)

Career

Independent Lawyer at the Neuchâtel Bar (Switzerland); President of the Bar in the Canton of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) (1990-1993); Judge at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS); Legal Consultant; Director of the International Center for Sports Studies (CIES); Professor then Professor Emeritus at the University of Neuchâtel

Sports practised

Rowing, ice hockey, cycling, running, skiing

Sports career

Member of the national rowing team (1968-1976); 13 times national champion in elite competition including five times in single sculls; participated in the Olympic Games in 1968 in Mexico City (bronze medal, four oars with coxswain), in 1972 in Munich (8th, four oars with coxswain) and in 1976 in Montreal (8th, quadruple sculls); 4th in the World Rowing Championships (1974) (quadruple sculls); national university ice hockey vice-champion

Sports administration

President of the Neuchâtel Rowing club (Switzerland) (1976-1980); Member of the Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Ice Hockey League (1976-1991); Secretary General (1978-1989), President (1989-2014) then Honorary President (2014-) of the World Rowing Federation (FISA); Deputy Secretary General of the Swiss Olympic Association (1985-1996); Member of the Board of Governors of the International Masters Games Association (IMGA) (1993-); President of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) (2000-2012)

Awards and distinctions

Winner of the Swiss sports merit prize for teams (1968); French Sports Academy Prize (2003); Honorary Doctor of Laws, De Montfort University, Leicester (Great Britain) (2011)

IOC History

Permanent Chair of the Disciplinary Commission (2017-); Member of the Executive Board (2000-2012, then 2017-); Chair of the following Commissions: Coordination for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad Athens 2004 (2001-2004), Coordination for the Games of the XXX Olympiad London 2012 (2005-2012); Disciplinary Commission (2016-); Vice-Chair of the Eligibility Commission (1992-1998); Member as IF representative of the following Commissions: Olympic Movement (1989-1999), Evaluation for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in 2004 (1996-1997), Coordination for the Games of the XXVII Olympiad Sydney 2000, Coordination for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad Athens 2004 (2000-2001); Member of the following Commissions: Juridical (1993-2015), Medical (1995-2015), IOC 2000 (Executive Committee, 1999), IOC 2000 Reform Follow-up (2002), Sport and Law (2008-2015), Legal Affairs (2015-); Member (1994) of the Olympic Collectors’ Association then Vice-Chair (1996-1999); Vice-Chair of the International Olympic Memorabilia Federation (2000-2001)

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