Ivo Ferriani (born 5 March 1960) is an Italian sports official and bobsledder. In September 2010, he was elected President of the

Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), originally known by the French name ''Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing'' (FIBT), is the international sports federation for bobsleigh and skeleton. It acts as a ...

(FIBT), ending the 16-year presidency of Canada's Robert H. Storey. In 2016, Ferriani became a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC).

Athletic career

Ferriani was on the bobsleigh team from 1984 to 1990. He competed for Italy at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, finishing 19th in the two-man event. In lesser events, he won a silver medal at the 1986 Junior European Championships in

Igls Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a po ...

and was Italian Junior European champion in 1986 and 1987.

Coaching career

From 1990 to 1994, he served as coach for the Italian bobsleigh team. Then he served as coach of the French national team from 1994 to 1999. While coach for the French team, they won three

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since 1930. Starting with 2002, championships of non-Winter Olympi ...

medals (Gold:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

four-man, Bronze:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

two-man, 1999 two-man) and a bronze medal in the four-man

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

event at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

(tied with

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

). During the 1998 Games, Ferriani made a bet with French driver Bruno Mingeon that if Mingeon won a medal, Ferriani would run through the snow in his

underwear Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...

. Mingeon won the bronze and Ferriani kept his promise. Following the 1999 world championships, Ferriani became coach of

Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) is the official federation for bobsleigh and skeleton in Canada. It serves as the Canadian representative for the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation and is part of the Canadian Olympic Committee. BCS i ...

, serving in that position until 2002. While in Canada, the team had their best finish of fifth in the two-man event at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Sports official career

After the 2002 Games, Ferriani returned to Italy where he served as technical director for

in the Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) from 2002 to 2009. During the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, he served as TOROC competition manager for the

, luge, and skeleton events. In 2009, he announced his candidacy for FIBT President, a position to which he was elected during their annual meeting in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,303. The village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba, southwest of Plattsburg ...

, United States.

References

"2010 Congress in Lake Placid: Ivo Ferriani elected the fifth President of FIBT"
International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation. 12 September 2010. Accessed 13 September 2010.
Official website

* Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2009). "Bobsleigh: Four-Man". In ''The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition''. London: Aurum Press Limited. p. 165. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferriano, Ivo 1960 births Living people Bobsledders at the 1988 Winter Olympics Italian male bobsledders Italian referees and umpires Olympic bobsledders of Italy Place of birth missing (living people) International Olympic Committee members