Swiss Colonel Is Chosen as IOC’s Director General

A colonel on the general staff of the Swiss defense ministry has been appointed the new director general of the International Olympic Committee, the IOC announced Tuesday.

Urs Lacotte, 49, succeeds Francois Carrard, who has held the job -- the head of the professional staff at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland -- since 1989.

Carrard has held the IOC job on a part-time basis; he is a Swiss lawyer who also is involved with several businesses and serves as head of the world-famous jazz festival each summer in Montreux. Under a restructuring by IOC President Jacques Rogge, the director general will be a full-time position.

Carrard declined to take the IOC job full time. He will remain with the IOC as a senior advisor to Rogge.

Lacotte also has held posts with the Swiss national Olympic committee and Asian-based Electrowatt Engineering.

“This will be a challenging and fulfilling role to which I trust I can bring an added value from my background in the worlds of sport, business and world affairs,” Lacotte said in a statement released by the IOC.

-- Alan Abrahamson