Mario Pescante (born July 7, 1938 in Avezzano) is an Italian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

. He is a former 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).

Biography

Pescante began his career as a university sports manager and was appointed secretary general of the

Italian National Olympic Committee The Italian National Olympic Committee ( it, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. ...

(CONI) in 1973. He served as Italy's chef de mission for seven Summer Olympics and five

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. In 1993, Pescante was elected president of CONI. He resigned in October 1998 over a doping scandal. He served as vice president of the Association of National Olympic Committees from 2001 to 2006. He teaches sports law at LUISS University in Rome and has authored numerous publications. In 2009, he became the first Italian to become a vice president of the IOC. In February 2011, he was chosen to head Rome's bid for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, however the bid was withdrawn due to the lack of government support. In January 2014, Pescante publicly opposed the decision of United States president Barack Obama to include four openly homosexual athletes in their Olympic delegation. Pescante was a member of the IOC and retired at the end of 2018, as per protocol, having turned 80 during the year.

Political career

Pescante is a member of the

People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...

party, and has been a member of the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...

since 2001. He served as an undersecretary of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities under prime minister

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

from 2001 to 2006. At present, he is the president of the 14th Commission of the Chamber of Deputies (in charge of

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

affairs).

References

External links

PESCANTE Mario - PDL
Chamber of Deputies Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Pescante, Mario 1948 births Living people People from Avezzano Forza Italia politicians The People of Freedom politicians 21st-century Italian politicians International Olympic Committee members