Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge dies aged 79


Jacques Jean Marie Rogge was born on May 2, 1942 in Ghent, Belgium, to Charles and Suzanne Rogge. His father was an engineer and his mother was a housewife. He learned sailing skills from his father, which would later take him to the Olympics.

“My father went to sea and the boys do what their fathers did,” he told The Times in 2001.

His father also played hockey and pressured his son to take it.

“I was fit and fast, but lacked the technique, so I stuck with sailing,” he told The Daily Telegraph of London in 2011. “Then, I took rugby at a later age.”

Meanwhile, at Ghent State University, he was on his way to becoming a surgeon, focusing on the knee, which, as he describes it, is “the hardest joint to work on.”

“I just loved the challenge,” he said.

One of the things he addressed as committee chair was how much connection there should be between a country’s government and the Olympic team. This was something he faced while leading the Belgian Olympic team in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter urged the United States and its allies to boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow over the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Belgium was such an ally, but Dr. Rogge pressured the team to compete in Moscow and eventually succeeded.

“This was a turning point in my life,” he said years after becoming IOC president. “We thought it was our duty to participate in the Olympic Games. I still feel sorry for the athletes who have been deprived of the Games they deserve. That gave me the resolve that we need to work closely with governments to develop the sport, but to maintain our independence.”



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