Mario Pescante

An Italian manager and politician, Mario Pescante began his sporting activity as a middle-distance runner at the age of 15, and afterwards went to Roma university, from where he graduated in law and in 1966 joined the staff of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). He was secretary of the Olympic mission at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and then served as Chef de Mission at four Summer and four Winter Olympics from the 1976 Montréal Games through to the 1992 Albertville Winter Games. On 3 May 1973 Pescante was elected Secretary-General of CONI following the death of Mario Saini.

Pescante was elected president of CONI on 30 June 1993 and the following year became a member of the IOC. However, he resigned in 1998 after many conflicts with various officials, and he quit following the scandal surrounding the management of the Anti Doping laboratory of the CONI at Roma Acqua Acetosa.

Pescarte was a member of the centre-right People of Freedom party, and also of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He served as an undersecretary at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 2001-06 and was involved in the supervision of the 2006 Winter Olympics at Torino. In 2014, with the help of the journalist Piero Mei of the Roma newspaper Il Messaggero, Pescarte penned the book L’idea Olimpica. Dall’antica Grecia a De Coubertin.