THE IOC AWARDS THE OLYMPIC ORDER TO PROF. ALBERT SCHARF

Lausanne, 8 January 2001 - The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today awarded the Olympic Order to Prof. Albert Scharf, President of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) during an official ceremony held at the IOC headquarters.

After starting his career within the Bavarian Ministry of Finance, Prof. Scharf joined the Bavarian TV network Bayerischer Rundfunk (part of the national network ARD) as legal advisor in 1966 and was appointed Deputy Director General in 1973. He became Director General of Bayerischer Rundfunk in 1990.

Prof. Scharf was first involved in Olympic broadcasting in 1964 in Tokyo. He was one of the ARD representatives in the EBU Legal Committee that he chaired for ten years. He was elected President of the EBU in 1983 and retired at the end of last year.

The IOC President said “The Olympic Movement is proud to award the Olympic Order to Prof. Scharf, whose knowledge and professionalism highly contributed to the development of sport on television”.