Norbert Müller

Professor Norbert Müller was a German author and one of the most renowned scholars on the works of Baron Pierre De Coubertin. When he was young Müller had an ambition of competing at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics as a high jumper. Müller did not make the team but he was part of a group of German students that attended the International Olympic Academy (IOA) the same year. This was to begin a lifetime’s association with the IOA, with Müller compiling a summary of the IOA’s proceedings.

Müller went to the University of Mainz where he became a professor. With his linguistic skills of the French language Müller was able to translate the works of De Coubertin. Müller published a three-volume work of De Coubertin in French for the IOC. These volumes were also published in English and later into German, Spanish, and Chinese. Müller also was a founding member of the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee.

Müller was awarded with the Olympic Order in 1997, and in 2021 was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH). In his role as president of the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee Müller began the International Network of Coubertin Schools in the same year. Müller also developed the Olympic Master’s Degree, which was introduced at the German Sport University Cologne.