"Who is ...?" presents a notable person from the sports and betting business every month.
Dec 2011: Hein Verbruggen
Aug 2011: Gianni Merlo
May 2011: William Gaillard
Mar 2011: Gerhard Heiberg
Feb 2011: Tegla Loroupe
Dec 2010: Risto Nieminen
Who is ...?
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Gerhard Heiberg |
| Biography | Interview | Contact | PDF | |
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| Biography |
Gerhard Heiberg started his
Olympic career as the Chairman, President and CEO in 1989 for the 1994 Lillehammer
Winter Olympic Games and for the Lillehammer Paralympic Games. He was elected
member of the IOC after the success of the Lillehammer Games in September 1994.
He has been member of several Coordination Commissions and the Sport and
Environment Commission as well as other IOC Commissions. He was also the
Chairman of the Evaluation Commission for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Since
2001 Mr. Heiberg has been the Chairman of the IOC Marketing Commission and
since 2010 Chairman of the Philately, Numismatic and Memorabilia
Commission. He was elected member of the
Executive Board in 2003, re-elected in 2007 and his term will expire in 2011. Mr. Heiberg has been a member of the Executive Board of the Norwegian Olympic Committee since 1994. His sports have been among other cross country skiing, tennis and athletics. Before he got involved in the Olympics, he worked 16 years as the CEO of a large industrial group in Norway, Norcem AS and after a merger, Aker AS. He has had several Board memberships, among others Chairman of the biggest bank in Norway from 1995-2000 and Chairman of the Norwegian Trade Council from 1977 for two periods. Gerhard Heiberg was born in Oslo in 1939, is married, and is a father to 3 children. A full list of current and past positions can be found here. |
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| Interview | |
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Gerhard Heiberg, you were President of the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee from 1989 – 1994,
Olympics that are still remembered fondly by many as being the best ever. Can
you say a few words about your experiences there and about your impressions
about the importance of the Olympic Movement?
As you can imagine, it was a great experience to have the honour of being the President of the Winter Games in Lillehammer. We managed to ignite the whole Norwegian nation and show the rest of the world fantastic pictures from the event in Lillehammer. The basis for all of this was the ideals and the values of the Olympic Charter. I think we managed to show the world that we believe in the Olympic Charter and this gave everybody a very nice picture of using the values and ideals in practice. |
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Sports are more than just competition – as
reflected in the Olympic values Excellence, Respect and Friendship – but it is also without a doubt big business.
Can you reflect on how the sports business might be different compared to other
sectors of the economy in terms of influence and setting an example?
To do business based on the Olympic Charter is interesting and very rewarding. We want to associate with companies having the same ideals and values and the companies interested want to use the Olympic logo in the same way. Thus it is not only a question of money, but also of principles and beliefs. |
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Organized crime has long been involved in major
sports, an example being the “Black Sox Scandal”
in American baseball where the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to
lose the 1919 World Series – a scandal that both shocked America and had a
lasting impact on its culture. The sports world risks this type of scandal even
now. Do you have any comments about what organized sport can do to be vigilant
against this threat?
To us the principle of “zero tolerance” is a very important one. Thus we try to fight corruption, bribery, doping in sports and illegal betting as much as we can. I think the IOC has a special responsibility here and we take this extremely seriously. |
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Different sports organizations are active in this
vigilance against the threat of organized crime, as the IOC that held an
anti-corruption summit in March and set up a task force to fight back against
illegal gambling. Do you believe that an International
Anti-Corruption Unit can be a solution to battling this problem?
To be able to fight organized crime we have to be in a team with politicians in most countries in the world. For this reason, I also think that an international anti-corruption unit can be a good tool in this battle. |
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you reflect a bit about your several decades of involvement in the highest
level of the Olympic Movement – has the
Movement gained momentum over the past 20 years? In my opinion, the five rings have never been stronger than they are today. All the values people all over the world associate with the Olympics are very, very positive. Zero tolerance, as mentioned, makes a great impression since we try very hard to follow up our own principles. We need to continue this policy and also hopefully organize Olympic Games the best possible way. |
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a final note, several questions related to Norway. Can we expect your native
country of Norway to qualify for the 2012 European Football
Championships? And do you see Norway applying to be the host for the
Winter Olympics anytime in the near future? Norway is trying very hard to qualify for the 2012 European Football Championships. I really hope we succeed in our efforts! I am quite certain that Norway will soon apply for the World Olympics again. First, I hope we can be awarded the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games and then some years after start, applying for the Winter Games... |
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| Contact Details | Please ask the ELS office for contact details (info@el-sports.org). |
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