Pirjo WILMI-HAGGMAN

Pirjo Häggman was a Finnish sprinter who competed at three Olympic Games (1972-80), making the finals of the 400 metres in both 1976 and 1980. She also made the finals of the 1978 European Championships in the 400. The highlight of her career was a 1974 European Championships silver medal won in the 4x400 relay. She won 10 Finnish outdoor sprint titles – 200 in 1972, 1976-78 and 1980; and the 400 in 1972-73 and 1978-80.

Häggman studied at the University of Helsinki, earning a masters of sports sciences degree in 1973. She later became a physical education teacher, a marketing manager and an insurance sales manager. In 1981 she became one of the first two female IOC Members, along with Venezuelan Flor Isava-Fonseca. In sports administration she as chairman of the Women’s Committee for the Finnish Amateur Athletic Association from 1982-88 and was a vice-president of the Finnish AAA from 1984-88. She became a member of the Finnish Olympic Committee in 1981 and was a member of the organizing committee for the 1994 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki.

On the IOC Häggman served on multiple commissions, including the Athletes Commission (1983-84), Commission for the Olympic Programme (Winter) (1982-83), Study and Evaluation Commission for the Preparation of the Olympic Games (1985-87), and the Pierre de Coubertin Commission (1994-99). She resigned from the IOC in January 1999 at the height of the Olympic Bribery Scandal when it was revealed that her husband, Bjarne Häggman, had been a paid consultant to the 2002 Salt Lake City Organizing Committee during the bidding process.

Personal Bests: 100 – 11.72 (1976); 200 – 22.96 (1976); 400 – 50.56 (1976).