Monique Berlioux was a French national swim champion, primarily in the backstroke, in the 1940s. During World War II she worked for the French underground, often swimming across the River Seine with messages detailing German intelligence gathering. She competed at the 1948 Olympic Games, finishing 6th in a semi-final of the 100 backstroke. But her Olympic fame would come later. Berlioux was educated at the Sorbonne and then began a career in journalism. In the 1960s she took a job at the IOC and shortly thereafter was made the media chief by IOC President Avery Brundage. In 1971, she was appointed Director of the IOC, the first female to be so named, and still remained through 2004, the highest ranked female in the world of sports administration. She worked under three IOC Presidents, Brundage, Lord Killanin, and Juan Antonio Samaranch, but her relations with Samaranch were more difficult than with Brundage and Killanin and in 1985, she “resigned” from her position as IOC Director, a decision apparently made mutually after discussions with President Samaranch.
France