Otto, Prinz zu Windisch-Graetz

Otto, Prince zu Windisch Graetz was a career military man, attending cavalry and brigade schools, and he was commissioned into the army in 1895, being promoted to captain in 1899. He was an outstanding athlete, participating in multiple sports, and in 1911 was made Honorary President of the Austrian Sports Federation. He helped facilitate the arrangement in 1912 by which both Austria and Bohemia sent teams to the Stockholm Olympics. Prince zu Windisch-Graetz was made a Prince in 1902 when he married Archduchess Elizabeth, the daughter of Crown Prince Rudolf.

Prince zu Windisch-Graetz was co-opted onto the IOC in May 1911 and continued the Austrian policy of opposing IOC membership for Czechoslovakia, but this was opposed by de Coubertin, and was unsuccessful. In World War I, Prince zu Windisch-Graetz commanded a battalion on the Italian front and was twice decorated for bravery. After the war, he settled in Yugoslavia until the onset of World War II. He then moved to Bohemia, where he lived with his sister, and after the war they moved to Lausanne, where he died in 1952. Prince zu Windisch-Graetz was suspended from the IOC in 1919 because of Austria’s role in World War I. He was offered his membership back in 1921 but declined as he was no longer living in Austria.