Michael Morris

Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, was President of the International Olympic Committee for 8 years, during which the OIC faced many challenges. Prior to reaching that position, he was first a successful journalist and then a Major in the British Army, participating in the planning for D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. Following the end of the Second World War, he led the Olympic Council of Ireland and became Ireland's representative to the IOC in 1952. He was elected Vice-President to the organization in 1968, and became President upon Avery Brundage's retirement in 1972. His tenure was shaped by several crises, driven in large part by external political events. The 1976 Games in Montreal were boycotted by African nations to protest apartheid in South Africa, and in 1980 the United States led a boycott of the Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. Lord Killanin retired shortly before the 1980 Games and passed away in 1999.