Michael Mronz made a name for himself as a sports manager and marketer. Now the Cologne native is supposed to use his entrepreneurial skills to advance the IOC.
In the first few minutes after the successful election, Michael Mronz’s pride prevailed. He is pleased that he was elected to the 107-member committee with a large majority alongside seven other new members and that so much trust was placed in him. “For me, this is a very special moment. Of course, it comes with great responsibility.”said Mronz in an interview with ARD Sportschau immediately after the announcement.
Above all, his wealth of experience in organizing major international sporting events was crucial for the choice, says the Cologne native. In addition to athletes, athlete representatives and representatives of national associations, the IOC also includes so-called “individuals”. The 56-year-old German is assigned to this category.
As a child on the tennis courts in Cologne
Mronz has been involved in sports since childhood. As a six-year-old, he and his brother Alexander were active as ball boys at professional tennis tournaments in Cologne. While his brother later pursued a professional tennis career and was in a relationship with Steffi Graf at a young age, Michael discovered his management qualities early on.
At the age of 22, he hosted his first tennis tournament, the Cologne Open, in his birthplace of Cologne. Mronz founded his own PR agency and made a name for himself early on as an organizer of sporting events and other events.
The sports manager has been managing director of Aachener Reitturnier GmbH since 1997. In this role he expanded the CHIO in Aachen into the largest equestrian tournament in the world. These qualities were probably decisive why the IOC and especially President Thomas Bach appointed him to the elite IOC circle.
Aachen riding tournament expanded into a major event
He doesn’t know the exact reasons why Thomas Bach chose him. But his entrepreneurial perspective probably played a decisive role, said Mronz. Under his leadership, the large Aachen equestrian tournament would have opened up to a much wider audience; the number of spectators would have increased from 200,000 to 350,000.
The 2024 Summer Games in Paris are a similarly good example in which sport should be brought even closer to the people. The opening ceremony will take place in downtown Paris, where it should attract more publicity. “These are things where I am able to get involved“, explains Mronz.
Mronz does not believe that his business activities as an IOC member could lead him to conflicts of interest. He has sold his agency, he only works as an advisor in tennis and he could definitely continue his job as managing director in Aachen. His exit from the PR company Storymaschine, which he founded together with former Bild boss Kai Diekmann, which he only completed at the beginning of September, also has nothing to do with the current IOC nomination.
No statement about Olympic recruitment
Mronz said how high the pressure of expectations is given that there are now three German representatives in the IOC, in addition to him and Thomas Bach, also the former fencer Britta Heidemann, and a possible German bid for the Olympics – he can do little with that. He certainly wants to contribute his ideas, but it is still too early to make any declarations of intent in this regard. A German Olympic bid for 2036 and also for 2040 is being discussed.
Michael Mronz was also involved in the last German Olympic bid for the 2032 Games. He had tried to bring the games to the Rhine-Ruhr region with a private initiative. When the efforts failed, he came into conflict with the DOSB and in particular with the then President Alfons Hörmann.
That is a thing of the past – he is now looking forward to working with the DOSB, to whose board he was automatically promoted with the IOC election. The current DOSB President Thomas Weikert already described Mronz’s choice as “excellent”.