Jean de Beaumont (sports official)

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Jean de Beaumont (center) at the age of 89

Jean Robert Maurice Bonnin de la Bonninière, comte de Beaumont (born January 13, 1904 in Paris ; † June 12, 2002 ibid) was a French athlete, politician, entrepreneur and sports official.

Life

He came from the noble Bonnin de La Bonninière de Beaumont family , who had been raised to the rank of count at the beginning of the 19th century . His father Marc de Beaumont was the founder of the Cercle de l'Union interalliée , an influential club of high society.

Jean attended the École des Roches and the École libre des sciences politiques and distinguished himself as an athlete during this time. In 1923 he took part in the first University World Games in Paris and reached the final in the 110-meter hurdles . The following year he took part as a trap shooter in the Summer Olympics (also in Paris) and was eleventh (out of twelve teams) in the team competition. In shooting sports, he also won the national championship three times and was runner-up in the world championship.

After completing his studies and sports, he moved to French Indochina , where he became deputy head of a rubber plantation. In 1928 he married into the Rivaud banking dynasty, which at that time dominated the overseas economy together with the rival Banque de l'Indochine . From 1934 to 1936 he worked as a journalist in Saigon and used this activity to make a name for himself politically. In the spring of 1936 he was elected - massively sponsored by Banque Rivaud - to represent Cochinchina in the Chamber of Deputies and narrowly prevailed against Omer Sarraut , son of the incumbent Prime Minister Albert Sarraut and candidate of the Banque de l'Indochine. His election, however, was challenged for bribery and eventually declared invalid; however, he was able to win the by-election in 1938. He did not join any parliamentary group. Here he mainly dealt with colonial politics and advocated strengthening the overseas territories. In addition, he pushed for greater support for French aviation. During the Second World War, on July 10, 1940, he voted with a majority for Pétain and the end of the Third Republic . After the end of the war, any further political activity in France was excluded.

De Beaumont consequently returned to Indochina, switched back to the economy and became president of several rubber trading companies within the Rivaud company empire in Southeast Asia and Africa. Among other things, he led the Sennah Rubber Company and the Compagnie du Cambodge , which controlled numerous plantations in Cambodia and southern Vietnam. The profits from these ventures made him a multimillionaire. In addition, he was elected as a representative of Cochinchina in the assembly of the Union française . Since the looming defeat in the Indochina War threatened his possessions in Vietnam, he became a powerful lobbyist for the French troops to remain in the country - ultimately in vain. After the French withdrew from Indochina, he relocated his economic activities to Africa and back to mainland France. In 1960 he became a partner in the Rivaud Group, and in 1975 its honorary president.

He now devoted himself increasingly to sports politics: in 1951 he had become a member of the International Olympic Committee ; from 1967 to 1971 he also served as president of the French NOK ( Comité olympique français ). In this role he directed the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble . 1968–74 and 1976–80 he was a member of the IOC Executive Board . From 1970 to 1972 he served as the second and from 1972 to 1974 as the first vice president of the IOC. In 1972 he was defeated by Lord Killanin in the presidential election. His main topics at the IOC were the promotion of Olympic sports in Africa and the reform of the outdated IOC structure. In 1990 he retired from day-to-day business.

Jean de Beaumont died in 2002 at the age of 98. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Knight's Cross of the Belgian Order of Leopold , as well as commander of the Legion of Honor . He was also the author of three novels: Adieu Focolara (1959), Pas ce soir (1965) and Au hasard de la chance (1987). His daughter Jacqueline de Ribes (* 1929) is a well-known member of high French society and has been a style icon for decades. Her husband Édouard de Ribes headed the Rivaud Group until the 1990s.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Augunstin Hamon: Les Maîtres de la France, tome III, Éditions sociales, 1938, Les intérêts coloniaux en Indochine
  2. ^ Justin Corfield: The History of Vietnam , ABC-CLIO, 2008, p. 52
  3. ↑ Rolf Kunkel, Die Zeit: A Lord for the Great Circus: Sport and politics will come to terms better under Killanin
personal data
SURNAME Beaumont, Jean de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bonnin de la Bonninière comte de Beaumont, Jean Robert Maurice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French athlete, politician, entrepreneur and sports official
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH June 12, 2002
Place of death Paris