Education
Degree in Law, University of Erlangen (1947-1951)
Career
Sports Administrator; Honorary Professor, University of Potsdam
Sports practised
Handball, athletics, basketball, tennis, skiing
Sports administration
Secretary General of the German Student Sports Association (1953-1961); Head of the Department of International Affairs, German Sports Federation (1961-1970); Secretary General (1961-1992), President (1992-2002) then Honorary President (2002-) of the NOC; 1st Vice-President, German Basketball Federation (1976-2006); member of the FIBA Sports Commission (1964-1994); member of the Olympic Organising Committee and Mayor of the Olympic Village in Munich in 1972; Chef de Mission, Olympic Winter Games (1976-2002); head of delegation at the Olympic Games (1994-2002); member of the Executive Board, then Deputy Chairman of the German Sports Aid Foundation (1977-); Chairman of the German Sports and Olympic Museum; Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Willi Daume Foundation; member of the Executive Board of the European Olympic Committees (EOC)
Publications
Co-author of the IOC publication: "How to organize an Olympic Games" (1974)
Awards and distinctions
Commanders Cross of the German Order of Merit; Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland; Knights Cross of the Order of Merit of the French Republic; FIBA Order of Merit; Order of Merit of the Free State of Bavaria as well as the State of Hesse; Paralympic Order (IPC); Honorary doctorate of the Kyungnam University, Masan, Republic of Korea (2008); Olympic Order (2009); Honorary doctorate of the United States Sports Academy; Honorary professorate of the Renmin University as well as of the Foreign Studies University, Beijing (People's Republic of China)
IOC History
Member of the IOC from 1989 to 2010; Honorary Member since 2010; IOC Sports Director (1983-1990); Director (1984-1989), Chairman (1990-2010) then Honorary Member (2010-2015) of the Sport for All Commission; member of the following Commissions: Olympic Programme (summer - winter) (1971-1994), Study for the Preparation of the Olympic Games 1998 (1990-1991), Olympic Solidarity (1985-1989), Coordination for the XVIII Olympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998 (1992-1998), Coordination for the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002 (1996-2002), Evaluation for the XX Olympic Winter Games in 2006 (1998-1999), “IOC 2000” (1999), 2009 Congress (2007-2009); Delegate Member for the Organisations for people with disabilities (1985-2012); IOC Commissionner at the 2000 Exhibition in Hanover; Honorary Member of the Sport and Active Society Commission (2015-)