“Michael Mronz, Entrepreneur.” Princess Nora von und zu Liechtenstein did not have particularly detailed information about the man on the video screen that the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were to elect into their circle on Tuesday morning in Mumbai. Michael Mronz, entrepreneur, was accepted as a member at the 141st General Assembly of the IOC in Mumbai. Mronz from Cologne is currently the third German in the Olympic circuit, alongside IOC President Thomas Bach and the Olympic fencing champion Britta Heidemann.
Before the Liechtenstein Princess led the election procedure, Anne, Princess Royal of the House of Mountbatten-Windsor, sister of King Charles III, said a few more words about Mronz – in such moments the IOC’s personal connection to the European nobility becomes apparent . The former president of the International Equestrian Federation referred to his role as head of the CHIO in Aachen and as managing director of the 2006 World Equestrian Games.
Then there was a vote, a formality. 64 of 73 IOC members voting supported the admission of Mronz as a personal member. The German manager received the meager result among the eight newcomers who were accepted into the IOC, which now has 107 members. The result shows that there are a few members in his circle who are less convinced of the appointment than its president, Thomas Bach, who pushed it forward.
Nominated by the IOC, “not by Thomas Bach”
Mronz, 56 years old, will remain a member as a personal member at least until the age limit of 70 is reached; membership can be extended once beyond that. Mronz said after the election on Tuesday that he was very happy when he received the request from the IOC this year. A letter of motivation and a submitted CV later, “just like every other candidate,” Mronz emphasized, he had been nominated by the IOC, “not by Thomas Bach.”
Almost three years ago, Mronz was behind the initiative for an Olympic bid for the 2032 Summer Games on the Rhine and Ruhr. Behind a bid that never became official because the games were awarded early to Brisbane. According to its own account, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) under its then President Alfons Hörmann did not realize which rules the IOC would follow when making awards. In IOC language, the procedure is called “continued dialogue” and “targeted dialogue” with those interested in the Olympics who should win the contract.
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Mronz had little interest on Tuesday in reflecting on the mistakes of the past, such as the severely disturbed relationship between the DOSB and the IOC at the time. But the concept of goal-oriented dialogue can definitely be transferred to the expectation of it: staying in conversation, in all directions. The widower of the former Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, still a member of the FDP, has more reliable contacts in politics than the DOSB leadership, the former FDP member Bach knows this. The current DOSB President Thomas Weikert does too. The exchange with him was good, said Mronz. Next week will be the first joint executive board meeting in the DOSB, to which Mronz now belongs through IOC membership.
After the election, he said, “observing the international perspective even more intensively” is part of the “responsibility” he now feels. And he quickly expressed that he had incorporated the IOC’s missionary self-image into his vocabulary: he wanted to “try to create a better world through sport.” Mronz emphasized his entrepreneurial view of the sport, saying that the CHIO had grown from 200,000 to 350,000 spectators year after year because they had managed to appeal to a broader audience. “No one” has spoken to him about expectations yet. Expressed or not: It will be about a German bid for the Olympics. “But it is also important there,” says Mronz, “I am the representative of the IOC in Germany and not the representative of the DOSB at the IOC.” This also expresses expectations of the entrepreneur Mronz.
