Jacques Rogge

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Count Jacques Rogge
8th President of the International Olympic Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office  16 July 2001
Preceded by	Juan Antonio Samaranch
Born	2 May 1942 (1942-05-02) (age 67) Ghent, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Occupation	Orthopedic surgeon

Jacques Rogge, Count Rogge (born 2 May 1942) (pronounced [ˈrɔɣə] (help·info) in Dutch) is a Belgian sports functionary. He is the eighth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

[edit] Biography

Born in Ghent, Rogge is an orthopaedic surgeon by profession. Rogge was educated at the University of Ghent. He competed in yachting in the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, and played on the Belgian national rugby union team. Rogge served as president of the Belgian Olympic Committee from 1989 to 1992, and as president of the European Olympic Committees from 1989 to 2001. He became a member of the IOC in 1991 and joined its Executive Board in 1998. He was knighted, and later elevated to Count, by King Albert II of Belgium. In his free time, Rogge is known to admire modern art and is an avid reader of historical and scientific literature.^[1]

Rogge was elected as president of the IOC on 16 July 2001 at the 112th IOC Session in Moscow as the successor to Juan Antonio Samaranch, who had led the IOC since 1980.

Under his leadership, the IOC aims to create more possibilities for developing countries to bid for and host the Olympic Games.^{[citation needed]} Rogge believes that this vision can be achieved in the not too distant future through government backing and new IOC policies that constrain the size, complexity and cost of hosting the Olympic Games.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Rogge became the first IOC President to stay in the Olympic village, to enjoy closer contact with the athletes.^{[citation needed]}

Under his term, Rogge has been active in ensuring that baseball and softball be removed from the Olympic Programme.^{[citation needed]} The decision was approved at the IOC Session in July 2005 in Singapore and will be in force for the London 2012 Summer Olympics. However, Rogge stated at the time of the decision that both sports would be eligible to win back their place in future Olympic Games.

[edit] Beijing Olympic controversy

For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Rogge announced in mid-July 2008 that there would be no Internet censorship by the mainland authorities: "for the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China. " However, by 30 July 2008, IOC spokesman Kevan Gosper announced that the Internet would indeed be censored for journalists.^[2] Gosper, who said he had not heard about this, suggested that high IOC officials (probably including the Dutch Hein Verbruggen and IOC French director-general Gilbert Felli, and most likely with Rogge's knowledge) had made a secret deal with Chinese officials to allow the censorship, without the knowledge of either the press or most members of the IOC.^[3][4] Rogge later denied that any such meeting had taken place, but did not insist that China adhere to its prior assurances that the Internet would not be censored.^{[citation needed]}

Rogge has been criticized for rebuking Usain Bolt's jubilation after winning multiple track and field events in Beijing.^[5] Yahoo Sports columnist, Dan Wetzel, who covered the Games described him as "...a classic stiff-collared bureaucrat," and further contended that "[the IOC] has made billions off athletes such as Bolt for years, yet he has to find someone to pick on."^[6] He was also criticized by the Greek society for reportedly stating that "Greece won the gold medal in doping", referring to the disqualification of several Greek athletes due to use of performance enhancing drugs.^{[citation needed]}

His son Philippe is the current delegation leader of the Belgian Olympic Committee.

[edit] Notes