Louis Magnus (25 May 1881 in Kingston,

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

– 1 November 1950) was a Jamaican-French competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

, representing

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

executive. He is considered as the builder of the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

(IIHF), and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame.

Career

Born in Jamaica, Magnus moved to France in 1889. Magnus competed as a figure skater in the disciplines of

single skating Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport conteste ...

and

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating ...

in France. He was the 1908–1911 French national champion in singles, and the 1912 national champion in pairs with partner Anita Del Monte. He worked as a figure skating judge for France at many international events. A member of the group that founded the IIHF, he served as its inaugural president from 1908 to 1912, and again in 1914. He wrote ''Les sports d'hiver'' with Renaud de la Fregeolière in 1911. In 1997, he was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. The French ice hockey league, the Ligue Magnus, and its trophy, the Coupe Magnus, are named after him. The headquarters of the IIHF in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

are named "Villa Louis Magnus", also after him.

References

External links

French Figure Skating Championships: Historical Podium
1881 births 1950 deaths French male single skaters French male pair skaters International Ice Hockey Federation executives IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican emigrants to France {{france-figure-skating-bio-stub