Jacques Rogge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
His Excellency Count
Jacques Rogge
OLY
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Rogge in January 2014
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| 8th President of the International Olympic Committee | |
| In office 16 July 2001 – 10 September 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Juan Antonio Samaranch |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Bach |
| Honorary President of the International Olympic Committee | |
| In office 10 September 2013 – 29 August 2021 |
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| President | Thomas Bach |
| Preceded by | vacant, last held by Juan Antonio Samaranch (2010) |
| Succeeded by | vacant, expected to be Thomas Bach in 2025 |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jacques Jean Marie Rogge
2 May 1942 Ghent, Belgium |
| Died | 29 August 2021 (aged 79) Deinze, Belgium |
| Spouses | Anne Rogge, Countess Rogge |
| Children | One son, one daughter |
| Alma mater | University of Ghent |
| Profession | Orthopedic surgeon Sports administrator |
Jacques Jean Marie Rogge, Count Rogge (French: [ʒɑk ʁɔɡ], Dutch: [ˈrɔɣə] (
listen); 2 May 1942 – 29 August 2021) was a Belgian sports administrator and physician who served as the eighth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2013. In 2013, Rogge became the IOC's Honorary President, a lifetime position, which he held until his death in 2021.
Life and career
Rogge was born in Ghent, Belgium, during the Nazi Germany occupation. He was the son of Suzanne and Charles Rogge, an engineer. Rogge was by profession an orthopedic surgeon and was educated at the Jesuit private school Sint-Barbaracollege and the University of Ghent.
Rogge was a noted athlete in his home country. He was a 16-time Belgian national champion in rugby and a one-time yachting world champion. He also competed in the Finn class of sailing on three Summer Olympic Games; in 1968, 1972, and 1976. In October 2016, The British School of Brussels named their new Sports Centre in his honour.
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 in 1992, and in 2002 made a count in the Belgian nobility by King Albert II. When Rogge stepped down as President of the IOC he was awarded by his successor a gold Olympic Order. On 25 February 2014, The Princess Royal appointed him as an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) at Buckingham Palace for his years of service to the Olympics and in particular for his work on the London 2012 Olympic Games.
On 28 April 2014, Rogge was appointed Special Envoy for Youth Refugees and Sport by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, to help promote sport as an empowerment tool for youth from displaced and refugee communities towards peace, reconciliation, security, health, education, gender equality, and a more inclusive society.
In his free time, Rogge was known to admire modern art and was an avid reader of historical and scientific literature.
On 14 October 2016, The British School of Brussels opened its new sports center in Tervuren, Belgium. The building was opened and named after Rogge, titled "The Jacques Rogge Sports Centre".
In 2017 the International Paralympic Committee awarded Rogge its highest honour the Paralympic Order for saving them from financial disaster. Rogge received the International Fair Play Committee's lifetime achievement award, the Jean Borotra World Fair Play Trophy. The committee decided to name their youth award in honour of Rogge, calling it the Jacques Rogge Fair Play Trophy for The Youth.
Rogge died on 29 August 2021, at the age of 79. The IOC did not say what the cause of death was, but Rogge had been suffering from Parkinson's disease.
President of the IOC
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 previously led the IOC since 1980.
At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Rogge became the first ever IOC President to stay in the Olympic village, thereby enjoying closer contact with the athletes.
In October 2009 he was re-elected for a new term as President of the IOC. In September 2013 at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, German Thomas Bach (who had won a gold medal in fencing at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal) was elected as his successor.
In 2011, a Forbes magazine list of the 68 most powerful people in the world listed Rogge at no. 67.
On 27 July 2011, one year prior to London 2012, Rogge attended a ceremony at Trafalgar Square where he invited athletes worldwide to compete in the forthcoming Olympic Games. Former Olympians the Princess Royal and Sebastian Coe unveiled the medals up for grabs, after both Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson had given speeches.
In December 2011, Rogge was invested as an Officer of the Légion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Jacques Rogge's IOC Presidency came to an end at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires. German Thomas Bach was elected as the new IOC President at the session on 10 September 2013. Rogge was then made Lifetime Honorary President of the IOC, a position which he held until his death in 2021.
Honours and titles
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Rogge received these honours and titles in Belgium and abroad for his work:
- 1992: Creation of Knight Rogge, by Royal decree of King Baudouin
- 2002: Creation of Count Rogge, by Royal decree of King Albert II
- 2011: Member of the Order of Friendship
- 2011: Officer of the Legion of Honour, by President Sarkozy
- 2013: Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (Belgium), by Royal decree of 19 September 2013
- 2014: Honorary Knight Commander in the Order of St. Michael and St. George (UK), 2014
- 2012: Knight Commander in the Order of Orange-Nassau, by Royal decree of Queen Beatrix
- 2015: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Adolphe of Nassau.
- Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- Order of Merit of Ukraine
- Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise
- Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
- Order for Merits to Lithuania
- 2013: Olympic Order
- 2013: Honorary President of the International Olympic Committee
- 2017: Paralympic Order
Academic degrees
Rogge received several honorary degrees (honoris causa) :
- Baku State University, Azerbaijan
- Semmelweis University, Hungary
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
- Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Poland
- University of Southern Denmark
- Lithuanian Sports University
- Ghent University, Belgium in 2001
- Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine, in October 2006
- Beijing Sport University, China, on 24 October 2006
- Galileo University, Guatemala, on 30 June 2007
- University of Porto, Portugal, in November 2009
- National Sports Academy of Bulgaria, in January 2009
- University of Oradea, Romania, in September 2010
- Royal Military Academy (Belgium) on 28 October 2010
- KU Leuven, Belgium in 2012
- National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport, in May 2018
See also
In Spanish: Jacques Rogge para niños
