Sigrid Edström

J. Sigrid Edström was an accomplished athlete and advocate of the sport movement in Sweden. Before being elected to the presidency of the International Olympic Committee, he helped organize the 1912 Games in Stockholm, Sweden, led two Olympic Congresses, and was head of the Swedish delegation to the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. In addition, he was the founder and first president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Edström was elected Vice-President of the IOC in 1931, and became acting President upon the death of Henri de Baillet-Latour in 1942. During the Second World War, he steered the Olympic Movement through the trials of the conflict, relying on his country's neutrality to maintain contact with delegates from all nations. After the war, he was formally elected President and devoted himself to restoring the Games in the post-war era. He retired in 1952, at 82 years of age, having assured the continuity of the modern Olympics.