The election of sports manager Michael Mronz to the International Olympic Committee at the session in Mumbai is a formality. As a lobbyist, he could help pave the way for a German bid for the Olympics.
There is great surprise in German sport about Michael Mronz’s upcoming promotion to the International Olympic Committee. Especially since the German Olympic Sports Confederation was only informed by the IOC shortly before the official announcement that the sports manager would be proposed for inclusion in the Order of the Rings at the general assembly in Mumbai beginning on Sunday.
Why did the German IOC President Thomas Bach choose him as an “independent individual” – and bypassing the organized sport of his home country? An affront or a calculated move?
“Worldwide recognized expert”
“Michael Mronz is a globally recognized expert for major sporting events and is ideally suited to build bridges between the Olympics and Germany as an expert and personality,” said DOSB board chairman Torsten Burmester, diplomatically commenting on the IOC personnel. We wish him success in the vote.
The election of the 56-year-old Cologne native and the other seven candidates for IOC membership is considered a formality. Mronz will become the third German alongside Bach and athlete representative Britta Heidemann in the elite IOC circle, which currently has 99 members.
There is no doubt about the professional competence of the clever event manager Mronz. As managing director of Aachener Reitturnier GmbH, he increased the reputation of the major equestrian event CHIO. As a co-founder of the Rhine-Ruhr Initiative, which sought to apply for the 2032 Olympic Games, Mronz received a lot of recognition. The fact that the failure ended in a heated dispute with the IOC was not attributed to him, but to the then DOSB President Alfons Hörmann.
Praise from Michelmann
“Sport is becoming more professional. It is therefore only logical to emphasize this aspect in the IOC. Michael Mronz is a proven expert in sports management – an independent man from practice with visionary ideas,” says Andreas Michelmann, spokesman for the top sports associations in the DOSB. “Such people can be good for the IOC.” And possibly the current efforts to get an Olympic bid back on track.
As a result of the falling out with the IOC a good two years ago, there would probably have been no chance of admitting a new member from the DOSB nomenclature group at the session in Mumbai. That is why Bach, whose term as IOC President ends in 2025, may have made this move in order to place a lobbyist in the well-connected Mronz who will continue to pursue his dream of the Olympics in Germany in the IOC. For the DOSB founding president, the Olympic project was not a priority: he wanted to become head of the IOC in 2013 and became one.
“As a member of the IOC, Michael Mronz could help promote the continuous dialogue between the DOSB and the IOC that is necessary for an application,” said Christoph Niessen, Chairman of the State Sports Association of North Rhine-Westphalia. The entrepreneur and PR specialist is not only independent, but also successful: “It is obvious that this could help German sport, perhaps even because he is not affiliated with one of the German sports associations.”
Short Mronz statement
The husband of former Foreign Minister and FDP leader Guido Westerwelle, who died in March 2016, only briefly commented on the IOC nomination immediately after it became known. “The IOC’s vision of creating a better world through sport has been a conviction and guiding principle throughout my personal and professional career for decades,” was Mronz’s short statement.
It was no coincidence that he took a stand on the 2036 Olympic Games in Germany, 100 years after the Games in Berlin, which were misused by the Nazi regime for propaganda purposes, and combined this with praise for Thomas Bach. As a “highly recognized IOC President” he can read “the vibrations” very well and sees no problem for 2036 at the international level: “You should trust that. Seen in this way, I think 2036 is not a penalty.” Especially since Berlin could become the first choice for a German Olympic candidacy in 2036.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
