René Fasel

René Fasel DMD (born 6 February 1950) is the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. He is also a dentist in Switzerland. He started his ice hockey career as a player for HC Fribourg-Gottéron, in 1960, and became a referee in 1972 and president of Switzerland's ice hockey federation in 1985. In 1994 he was elected president of the IIHF. He became a member of the International Olympic Committee and was the first ever representative of ice hockey. In 2008, he was elected the winter sports representative on the IOC's Executive Board.

René Fasel
Fasel in 2011
Born (1950-02-06) 6 February 1950
Fribourg, Switzerland
NationalitySwitzerland
OccupationDentist
IIHF President (1994-present)
IOC member (1995-present)
Member of the IOC Executive Board (2008-2016)

Career

Born in Fribourg, Switzerland, Fasel started his playing career with the Swiss league team HC Fribourg-Gottéron in 1960.[1] He remained with the team until 1972 and retired to become a referee. He remained a referee until 1982 and officiated 37 international matches.[2] In 1982 he became the Chairman of the Swiss Ice Hockey League referees' commission.[1] In 1985, he became president of the Schweizerischer Eishockeyverband, Switzerland's governing body for ice hockey. He was elected to the IIHF council the following year and served as head of the Referee and the Marketing Committees.[2]

In June 1994, he was elected the President of the IIHF, succeeding Günther Sabetzki. He has served four consecutive terms as President. His most recent started at the IIHF congress in May 2008 when he was unopposed in his re-election attempt.[3] As IIHF president, Fasel has tried to forge a stronger relationship between the IIHF and the National Hockey League (NHL), the major professional ice hockey league of North America. In March 1995, he helped negotiate an agreement so that NHL players could compete at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.[4] He has also vowed to "work day and night" to help negotiate an agreement that will see NHL players participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics.[5] He is against fighting in ice hockey, describing it as "Neanderthal behavior".[6]

In 1992 he became a member of the Swiss Olympic Association. In 1995 he became a member of the International Olympic Committee. He was the first ever representative of ice hockey.[2] As an IOC member, he has held several positions, including Chairman of the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) and Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the 2010 Winter Olympics.[1] In May 2008, Fasel was nominated to replace Ottavio Cinquanta as the winter sports representative on the IOC's executive board.[7] He was named to the board on 7 August at the 120th IOC Session held before the 2008 Summer Olympics and served an eight-year term until 2016 when he was replaced by Gian-Franco Kasper.[8]

Fasel spoke at the World Hockey Summit in 2010, and discussed the National Hockey League (NHL) presence in Europe and in ice hockey at the Olympic Games, and was defensive of European hockey.[9] He was against NHL expansion plans into Europe, and envisioned a European professional league, where the champion would play the Stanley Cup winner for a world title.[10] He sought to keep NHL participation at the Winter Olympics due to its profitability and exposure for international hockey.[9]

Personal life

Fasel is married and has four children. He attended the University of Fribourg and University of Bern and became a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1977.[1] In 1997, the IOC commissioned him to conduct a study of dental treatment of Olympic athletes.[2] The report, "Sports Dentistry and the Olympic Games", was published in 2005.[11] On 26 July 2012 Fasel was part of the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay in London.[12]

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References
  1. "Mr René Fasel". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  2. "IIHF Council". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  3. "Fasel unopposed for re-election as IIHF President". The Sports Network. 2009-04-30. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  4. Lapointe, Joe (1997-09-16). "The N.H.L.'s Olympic Gamble; Stars' Participation in Nagano Could Raise Sport's Profile". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
  5. "Bettman and Fasel face off". CTV Olympics. 2009-03-27. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  6. Bass, Alan (2009-01-19). "Beyond the Bleachers with IIHF President Rene Fasel". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  7. "Fasel set to join the IOC executive". International Ice Hockey Federation. 2008-05-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  8. Associated Press (2008-08-07). "Moroccan woman set to join IOC rule making body". ESPN. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  9. Burnside, Scott (August 24, 2010). "Euro expansion? 'Hell' no, Rene Fasel says". ESPN. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  10. Duhatschek, Eric (August 24, 2010). "Fasel warns NHL over European expansion". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  11. Fasel, Rene; Piccininni, Paul M. (June 2005). "Sports Dentistry and the Olympic Games" (PDF). CDA Journal. Canadian Dental Association. 33 (6). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-25.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2012-08-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Preceded by
Günther Sabetzki		 President of the IIHF
1994–present		 Incumbent
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