Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux

Who was Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux?

Count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux was an Italian nobleman.

Born in Vercelli into a family of French origin, Brunetta d'Usseaux was educated in Turin. Himself an active rower and rider, the count was very interested in sports, and a meeting with Baron Pierre de Coubertin interested him for the reinstatement of the Olympic Games. In 1897, Brunetta d'Usseaux became a member of the International Olympic Committee, which he remained until his death.

He succeeded in bringing the 1908 Summer Olympics to Rome, but Italy had to forfeit the organization of the Olympics in 1906, due to financial and organisational problems. The 1908 Games were held in London instead. That same year, Brunetta d'Usseaux was appointed secretary of the IOC. In this position, he tried to get winter sports on the Olympic programme, and suggested to have a separate winter sports week attached to the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. This was opposed by the Swedish organizers, but Brunetta d'Usseaux managed to get a winter sports week scheduled for 1916. Due to World War I, these Olympics were never organized. The count died, under unclear circumstances, in France in 1919, and would not live to see the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924.