ISOH General Assembly poster.
By Philip Barker
ISOH has celebrated its 30th anniversary by presenting three lifetime achievement awards.
The gathering was held at the Foundation Coubertin at St. Remy Les Chevreuses on the outskirts of Paris.
This was the family seat of the Coubertin family and appropriately it was attended by Yvan and Diane de Navacelle de Coubertin, both descendants of Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin.
The event was live streamed for those who were unable to attend in person.
Professor Norbert Muller joined the gathering from his home in Germany to receive the awards.
“I spoke French so I could read Coubertin’s works when very few people spoke French so it was the chance of my life,” said Muller.
A promising athlete in his youth, Muller admitted that he had hoped to qualify for the Mexico Olympics.
In 1968 he was told by an official, “you are not going to the Olympics but to Olympia.”
It was his first visit to the International Olympic Academy and began a lifelong association.
Muller later produced a seminal work detailing the lectures at every session which remains a useful tool for those researching the IOA.
He was a key figure in the preparation of an official three-volume IOC history to mark the centenary of the movement in 1994, the issue of the works of Coubertin in both French and English, and a study of the Olympic Congresses in the first century of the organisation.
ISOH founding member Bill Mallon was present in person to receive his award from David Wallechinsky who said, “if there was such a thing as a double lifetime award then Bill would receive it.”
A former professional golfer, Mallon admitted that “Olympic history kept me sane.”
In 1991, he was part of a small group which founded the society at the Duke of Clarence Pub in London’s Holland Park.
He was the driving force behind the early editions of our journal, wrote articles under a pseudonym and even photocopied and distributed copies of the magazines.
A posthumous award was made to Walter Troger, honorary IOC member and former German Olympic Committee President who passed away in December 2020.
Peter Ritter, the former President of the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee gave an appreciation of his close friend of almost a half a century.
“He was a marvellous friend,” said Ritter. Troger had worked in making the preparations for the 1972 Games in Munich.
“He grew up in a time when security was a strange word,” Ritter said.
Troger served as mayor of the Olympic Village during the Games but found himself taking
Part in negotiations with the Palestine terrorist group which had taken Israeli athletes hostage.”
“His Games were destroyed by politics,” Ritter admitted.
(Download the press release distributed at the conclusion of the General Assembly)
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