René Fasel DMD (born 6 February 1950) is the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. He is also a dentist in Switzerland. He started his ice hockey career as a player for HC Fribourg-Gottéron, in 1960, and became a referee in 1972. In 1982 he became the Chairman of the Swiss Ice Hockey League referees' commission. He was elected president of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation in 1985. He was elected to the IIHF council the following year and served as head of the Referee and the Marketing Committees. He became a member of the International Olympic Committee and was the first ever representative of ice hockey. In 2008, he was elected the winter sports representative on the IOC's Executive Board.
In June 1994, he was elected the President of the International Ice Hockey Federation, succeeding Günther Sabetzki. He has served four consecutive terms as President. His most recent started at the IIHF congress in May 2008 when he was unopposed in his re-election attempt. As IIHF president, Fasel has tried to forge a stronger relationship between the IIHF and the National Hockey League (NHL), the major professional ice hockey league of North America. In March 1995, he helped negotiate an agreement so that NHL players could compete at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. He has also vowed to "work day and night" to help negotiate an agreement that will see NHL players participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics. He is against fighting in ice hockey, describing it as "Neanderthal behavior".
In 1992 he became a member of the Swiss Olympic Association. In 1995 he became a member of the International Olympic Committee. He was the first ever representative of ice hockey. As an IOC member, he has held several positions, including Chairman of the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) and Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the 2010 Winter Olympics. In May 2008, Fasel was nominated to replace Ottavio Cinquanta as the winter sports representative on the IOC's executive board. He was named to the board on 7 August at the 120th IOC Session held before the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Fasel is married and has four children. He attended the University of Fribourg and University of Bern and became a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1977. In 1997, the IOC commissioned him to conduct a study of dental treatment of Olympic athletes. The report, "Sports Dentistry and the Olympic Games", was published in 2005. On 26 July 2012 Fasel was part of the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay in London.
External links[]
- Sports Dentistry and the Olympic Games by René Fasel and Paul M. Piccininni
- IOC
- IIHF
| Preceded by Günther Sabetzki |
President of the IIHF 1994–present |
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