Maurice Gueissaz

Maurice Gueissaz was born in Sankt Gallen. A member of Aviron Romand Zürich in the 1940s, he was a frequent competitor in single (skiff) and double sculls. In July 1948, Gueissaz won the national double sculls title with clubmate Maurice Matthey at the Swiss Rowing Championships which gained them a place on the Olympic team to compete in the upcoming Games London, just a mere few weeks away. There, they unfortunately did not advance past their preliminary heat, finishing behind the Danish pair of Aage Larsen and Ebbe Parsner (who would eventually win the silver medal) and eventually to the Italian pair in the repêchage. Following the Olympics, he later moved to Neuchâtel, where he continued to compete in rowing with the Société Nautique de Neuchâtel.

In the early 1950s, Gueissaz attended the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) where he studied agricultural engineering, and eventually worked in that profession for many years, settling in Lausanne.