Ottavio Cinquanta
Encyclopedia
Ottavio Cinquanta is currently President of the International Skating Union
and a member of the International Olympic Committee
.
He has held the ISU position since 1994 and the IOC position since 1996.
In 2000 he was elected member of the IOC Executive Committee, position that he has held until 2008.
Prior to becoming ISU President he was ISU Vice President and before the Chair of its Technical Committee for Short Track Speed Skating
.
Cinquanta grew up in Milan
, Italy
, where he practiced as an ice hockey
player, in athletics and as an ice speed skater. Cinquanta attended university and he was mainly active in business administration. At the time of his election to the ISU Presidency, at the age of 56, he retired from his position as a manager of an international chemical company.
When Cinquanta was first elected to the ISU Presidency, he was initially regarded as a progressive who introduced prize money at ISU Events after negotiating several commercial contracts, including an important television contract with ABC Sports which put the ISU on much firmer ground with respect to competitions, a radical change from the unsanctioned professional skating competitions. The television money also allowed the ISU to sustain a variety of development programs in both Figure Skating
and Speed Skating
branches, including, for example, the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating
. On the occasion of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, one Figure Skating event had a case related to the result and the ISU was criticized for the evasiveness of a judging system based mainly on subjectivity, a system adopted by the ISU many decades earlier.
On the initiative of President Cinquanta the ISU Council at the beginning of the 2002 OWG voted in favor of a new revolutionary scoring system and this happened before the mentioned case of judging occurred in one Figure Skating event at the same 2002 OWG.
The new Figure Skating Judging System was defined as an absolute system and considerably less affected by subjectivity. It was also later approved by the ISU Ordinary Congress of 2002 in Kyoto, Japan.
With the strong support from the majority of technical people involved in Figure Skating, the ISU Judging System
took advantage of the use of high technology like video replay system and computers and demonstrated to be a positive development although limited fan protests were presented especially by those who were in favor of a full subjective decision.
Like any other technical rule and procedure the international Figure Skating Judging System is subject to evaluation by the experts whose inputs are submitted to the ISU Congress for consideration in order to evaluate all initiatives to be adopted to follow the natural development of a high technical sport like Figure Skating.
Cinquanta has been consecutively reelected to the ISU Presidency at all the ISU elective Congresses and it is estimated that since his first election in 1994, approximately thirty innovations have been introduced in the International Skating Union regarding the two branches administered of Figure Skating and Speed Skating.
The International Olympic Committee has also benefited for the Olympic events from all the innovations produced by the ISU that have been adopted and maintained for a period of almost twenty years.
International Skating Union
The International Skating Union is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Netherlands in 1892, making it one of the oldest international...
and a member of the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
.
He has held the ISU position since 1994 and the IOC position since 1996.
In 2000 he was elected member of the IOC Executive Committee, position that he has held until 2008.
Prior to becoming ISU President he was ISU Vice President and before the Chair of its Technical Committee for Short Track Speed Skating
Short track speed skating
Short track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters skate on an oval ice track with a circumference of 111.12 m...
.
Cinquanta grew up in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where he practiced as an ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
player, in athletics and as an ice speed skater. Cinquanta attended university and he was mainly active in business administration. At the time of his election to the ISU Presidency, at the age of 56, he retired from his position as a manager of an international chemical company.
When Cinquanta was first elected to the ISU Presidency, he was initially regarded as a progressive who introduced prize money at ISU Events after negotiating several commercial contracts, including an important television contract with ABC Sports which put the ISU on much firmer ground with respect to competitions, a radical change from the unsanctioned professional skating competitions. The television money also allowed the ISU to sustain a variety of development programs in both Figure Skating
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
and Speed Skating
Speed skating
Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...
branches, including, for example, the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating is a series of international invitational competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Elite figure skaters compete in the disciplines of ladies' singles, men's singles, pair skating, and ice dancing...
. On the occasion of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, one Figure Skating event had a case related to the result and the ISU was criticized for the evasiveness of a judging system based mainly on subjectivity, a system adopted by the ISU many decades earlier.
On the initiative of President Cinquanta the ISU Council at the beginning of the 2002 OWG voted in favor of a new revolutionary scoring system and this happened before the mentioned case of judging occurred in one Figure Skating event at the same 2002 OWG.
The new Figure Skating Judging System was defined as an absolute system and considerably less affected by subjectivity. It was also later approved by the ISU Ordinary Congress of 2002 in Kyoto, Japan.
With the strong support from the majority of technical people involved in Figure Skating, the ISU Judging System
ISU Judging System
The ISU Judging System , is the scoring system on the event and on the level of competition. At the senior international level, single and pairs short programs contain eight technical elements. The actual eight elements are detailed for single skaters in ISU rule 310...
took advantage of the use of high technology like video replay system and computers and demonstrated to be a positive development although limited fan protests were presented especially by those who were in favor of a full subjective decision.
Like any other technical rule and procedure the international Figure Skating Judging System is subject to evaluation by the experts whose inputs are submitted to the ISU Congress for consideration in order to evaluate all initiatives to be adopted to follow the natural development of a high technical sport like Figure Skating.
Cinquanta has been consecutively reelected to the ISU Presidency at all the ISU elective Congresses and it is estimated that since his first election in 1994, approximately thirty innovations have been introduced in the International Skating Union regarding the two branches administered of Figure Skating and Speed Skating.
The International Olympic Committee has also benefited for the Olympic events from all the innovations produced by the ISU that have been adopted and maintained for a period of almost twenty years.