Former government minister nets top job at Swiss Olympic
Ruth Metzler-Arnold plans to use her political connections to lobby for Swiss sporting bodies.
Keystone / Peter Klaunzer
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Former government minister nets top job at Swiss Olympic
Ruth Metzler-Arnold will take the helm at Switzerland’s national Olympic committee as of January 2025.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Metzler-Arnold, who served in the Swiss government from 1999 to 2003, received 329 of 495 valid votes cast by delegates at an event at Swiss Olympic headquarters in Bern on Friday evening. Her rival Markus Wolf received 162 votes.
After former parliamentarian Jürg Stahl, who was Swiss Olympic President since 2017, and former cantonal ministers Jörg Schild (2006-2016) and Walter Kägi (2000-2005), Metzler-Arnold’s election marks the fourth time in a row that a political figure has been chosen to lead the umbrella organisation for Swiss sports.
Meztler-Arnold is the first woman to hold the position.
While she has never previously worked in a sports-related role, Metzler-Arnold used her political experience to run an effective campaign to win the support of delegates, the Keystone-SDA news agency writes. Meanwhile, delegates clearly considered economic and political components in making their choice – particularly the fact that current savings efforts by the federal government have led to fears about a reduction in sports subsidies.
Her experience in cantonal and federal government has given her an in-depth knowledge of the processes involved in political life, and of which levers to pull at the right time, Metzler-Arnold told delegated on Friday. “It’s a huge advantage to be able to negotiate directly with the people who make the decisions,” she said.
Adapted from German/French by DeepL/dos
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Most Read Swiss Abroad
More
Taxes on pension payments: no problem for the Swiss Abroad
Swiss central banker wants to boost equity to head off risks
This content was published on
Equity levels at the Swiss National Bank (SNB) are much too low for the risks its large balance sheet poses, according to Martin Schlegel.
Beer sales in Switzerland watered down by bad weather
This content was published on
The past brewing year fell through in Switzerland, partly due to the bad weather. Beer sales shrank again. For the first time, per capita consumption fell below the 50 liter mark.
Compensation for Syrian after pregnant wife denied help on Swiss train
This content was published on
Switzerland’s Federal Court has partially upheld the appeal of a Syrian family being deported from Switzerland to Italy in 2014. The man now also receives compensation.
Swiss-EU negotiations: Cassis to meet Sefcovic in Bern
This content was published on
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will meet the Vice-President of the EU Commission, Maros Sefcovic, in Bern on Wednesday.
Heavy snowfall in Switzerland causes traffic chaos and accidents
This content was published on
The heavy snowfall late on Thursday and during the night into Friday led to traffic chaos and many accidents in many regions of Switzerland.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.