Louis Magnus (25 May 1881 in Kingston,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

– 1 November 1950) was a Jamaican-French competitive figure skater, representing

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, and an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

executive. He is considered as the builder of the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...

(IIHF), and was inducted into the

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

Career

Born in Jamaica, Magnus moved to France in 1889. Magnus competed as a figure skater in the disciplines of

single skating Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport contested ...

and pair skating in France. He was the 1908–1911 French national champion in singles, and the 1912 national champion in pairs with partner Anita Del Monte. He worked as a figure skating judge for France at many international events. A member of the group that founded the IIHF, he served as its inaugural president from 1908 to 1912, and again in 1914. He wrote ''Les sports d'hiver'' with Renaud de la Fregeolière in 1911. In 1997, he was inducted into the

. The French ice hockey league, the

Ligue Magnus The Ligue Magnus, currently known as Synerglace Ligue Magnus for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's division of the French ice hockey pyramid, established in 1906. The league operated under a variety of names before taking that of its champio ...

, and its trophy, the Coupe Magnus, are named after him. The headquarters of the IIHF in Zurich are named "Villa Louis Magnus", also after him.

References

External links

French Figure Skating Championships: Historical Podium
1881 births 1950 deaths French male single skaters French male pair skaters International Ice Hockey Federation executives IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica Emigrants from British Jamaica to France {{france-figure-skating-bio-stub