Ottavio Cinquanta

Ottavio Cinquanta (born August 15, 1938 in Rome ) is an Italian sports official. He was the President of the International Skating Union (ISU) and was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Cinquanta grew up in Milan and was active as a sportsman in athletics , ice hockey and speed skating . He attended university and worked in the field of business administration . Before being elected President of ISU, he was a manager in an international company in the chemical industry . He also served as Chairman of the Short Track Technical Committee and Vice President of ISU.

In 1994 Cinquanta was elected President of the International Skating Union, and in 1996 he also became a member of the International Olympic Committee . From 2000 to 2008 he was also a member of the Olympic Executive Committee.

After his election, Cinquanta introduced prize money at ISU competitions and negotiated contracts, including with TV broadcaster ABC Sports. In doing so, he prevented athletes from giving up their amateur status in order to take part in commercial shows and earn a lot of money there. Cinquanta used the additional income for new projects such as B. the introduction of the ISU Grand Prix series .

As a former speed skater who, as he himself said, didn't know much about figure skating, Cinquanta came under fire, especially from the figure skating community in the USA and Canada. Despite his self-admitted ignorance about figure skating, he introduced the new figure skating rating system after the scandal at the 2002 Winter Olympics and thus abolished the traditional 6.0 rating system. This should make sport more objectivity in its assessment. However, the newly introduced anonymity of the judges was the main cause of controversy. At the 2003 World Cup in Washington , fans protested loudly against Cinquanta.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/comment/brennan/2002-02-14-brennan.htm
2. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/winterolympics2002/hi/english/skating/newsid_1828000/1828380.stm
3. ↑ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/winter/2003-03-24-skating-popularity_x.htm
4. ↑ http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/archive/results_worlds/worlds03.htm
5. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 1, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.