Ottavio Cinquanta

Ottavio Cinquanta ( born August 15, 1938 in Rome ) is an Italian sports official. He is the president of the International Skating Union ( ISU) and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Cinquanta grew up in Milan and worked as an athlete in track and field, ice hockey and speed skating. He attended the University and worked in the field of business administration. Prior to his election as President of the ISU he was a manager in an international company in the chemical industry. He also held the post of chairman of the technical committee for short track and the Vice-President of the ISU.

In 1994 Cinquanta was elected president of the International Skating Union, he was also a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1996. From 2000 to 2008 he was also a member of the Olympic Executive Committee.

After his election Cinquanta led a prize money at ISU competitions and negotiated contracts, including with the TV channel from ABC Sports. Thus he prevented that athletes gave up their amateur status to participate in commercial shows and earn a lot of money there. The additional revenue Cinquanta used for new projects, such as the introduction of the ISU Grand Prix series.

A former speed skater, as he himself said, did not know much of figure skating, got Cinquanta, especially through the figure skating community in the U.S. and Canada, in the criticism. Despite his self -confessed lack of knowledge about figure skating, he led after the scandal at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the new rating system of figure skating, and thereby abolishing the traditional 6.0 rating system. Sport should thereby gain objectivity in the assessment. However, a controversy caused especially the newly introduced anonymity of the judges. At the World Cup 2003 in Washington fans protested loudly against Cinquanta.