Jacques Jean Marie Rogge, Count Rogge is a Belgian sports administrator and physician who served as the eighth President of the International Olympic Committee from 2001 to 2013. In 2013, the IOC announced. Born in Ghent, during the Nazi Germany occupation, Rogge is by profession an orthopedic surgeon and was educated at the Jesuit private school Sint-Barbaracollege and the University of Ghent. Rogge is a noted athlete in his home country, he was a 16-time Belgian national champion in a one-time yachting world champion. He competed in the Finn class of sailing on three Summer Olympic Games. In October 2016, The British School of Brussels named their new Sports Centre in his honour. Rogge served as president of the Belgian Olympic Committee from 1989 to 1992, as president of the European Olympic Committees from 1989 to 2001, he became a member of the IOC in 1991 and joined its executive board in 1998. He was knighted in 1992, in 2002 made a count in the Belgian nobility by King Albert II; when Rogge stepped down as President of the IOC he was awarded by his successor a gold Olympic Order.

On 25 February 2014, The Princess Royal appointed him as an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George at Buckingham Palace for his years of service to the Olympics and in particular for his work on the London 2012 Olympic Games. On 28 April 2014, Rogge was appointed Special Envoy for Youth Refugees and Sport by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, to help promote sport as an empowerment tool for youth from displaced and refugee communities towards peace, security, education, gender equality and a more inclusive society. In his free time, Rogge is known to admire modern art and is an avid reader of historical and scientific literature, he is married to Anne. On 14 October 2016, The British School of Brussels opened their new sports center in Tervuren, Belgium; the building was opened and named after Rogge, titled "The Jacques Rogge Sports Centre". In 2017 the International Paralympic Committee awarded Rogge their highest honour the Paralympic Order for saving them from financial disaster.

Rogge received the International Fair Play Committee's lifetime achievement award - the Jean Borotra World Fair Play Trophy. The committee decided to name their youth award in honour of Rogge, calling it the Jacques Rogge Fair Play Trophy for The Youth. Rogge was elected as President of the IOC on 16 July 2001 at the 112th IOC Session in Moscow as the successor to Juan Antonio Samaranch, who had led the IOC since 1980. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Rogge became the first IOC President to stay in the Olympic village, thereby enjoying closer contact with the athletes. In October 2009 he was re-elected for a new term as President of the IOC. In September 2013 at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, German Thomas Bach was elected as his successor. In 2011, a Forbes magazine list of the 68 most powerful people in the world listed Rogge at no. 67. On 27 July 2011, one year prior to London 2012, Rogge attended a ceremony at Trafalgar Square where he invited athletes worldwide to compete in the forthcoming Olympic Games.

Former Olympians the Princess Royal and Sebastian Coe unveiled the medals up for grabs, after both Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson had given speeches. In December 2011, Jacques Rogge was invested as an Officer of the Légion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Jacques Rogge's IOC Presidency came to an end at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires. German Thomas Bach was elected as the new IOC President at the session on 10 September 2013. Rogge went on to become the Honorary President of the IOC. Chinese internet censorshipFor the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Rogge pronounced in mid-July 2008 that there would be no Internet censorship by Chinese government authorities: "for the first time, foreign media will be able to report and publish their work in China". However, by 30 July 2008, IOC spokesman Kevan Gosper had to retract this optimistic statement, announcing that the Internet would indeed be censored for journalists. Gosper, who said he had not heard about this, suggested that high IOC officials had made a secret deal with Chinese officials to allow the censorship, without the knowledge of either the press or most members of the IOC.

Rogge denied that any such meeting had taken place, but failed to insist that China adhere to its prior assurances that the Internet would not be censored. Criticism of Bolt's jubilationRogge commented that Usain Bolt's gestures of jubilation and excitement after winning the 100 meters in Beijing are "not the way we perceive being a champion," and said "that he should show more respect for his competitors." In response to his comments, Yahoo! Sports columnist, Dan Wetzel, who covered the Games, described him as "a classic stiff-collared bureaucrat," and further contended that " has made billions off athletes such as Bolt for years, yet he has to find someone to pick on". In an interview with Irish Times' reporter Ian O'Riordan, Rogge clarified, "Maybe there was a little bit of a misunderstanding.... What he does before or after the race I have no problem with. I just thought that his gesticulation during the race was maybe a little disrespectful". Munich Massacre moment of silenceRogge rejected calls for a minute of silence to be held to honor the 11 Israeli Olympians killed 40 years pr

The scioptic ball is a universal joint allowing an optical instrument mounted on a ball to be swiveled to point anywhere in a wide arc. It was inspired by studies of the human eye, it has a number of applications. The scioptic ball may provide a firm anchor for a microscope, camera or telescope allowing it to be swiveled in all directions, for example to follow the course of an eclipse or for drawing panoramic views. Scioptic balls have been used as camera obscuras, projecting images from the outside on walls in darkened rooms. Scioptic balls have been used as light sources, it was an early example of a type of wide-angle lens. Daniel Schwenter, professor of mathematics and oriental languages, developed the scioptic ball in 1636. In 1685, Johann Zahn illustrated a large workshop camera obscura for solar observations using the telescope and scioptic ball. Scioptic ball example in museum Scioptic ball example in museum

Nelson Le Follet, stage name of Bartolomeo Viganego known as Enrico or Enrichetto, has been an Italian illusionist and acrobat. During his youth, he had been an athlete of the Christopher Columbus Gymnastics Society, thus dedicating himself to performing acrobatic acts in famous circuses of the time, such as the Parish Circus, under the name of the "Red Devil", his background as a Viganego gymnast, allowed him to perform as an antipodean, as an expert of the circus art in juggling various objects with his feet, laying on his back and keeping his legs up in the air, more or less, vertically. He dedicated himself to pantomime and illusionist shows in Italian Theatres and Spanish Theatres, with his own company, "Troupe Nelson". In 1898-99, in his shows, he used a projecting machine, made by the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière. At the beginning of the century he used names of art such as Nelson Viganego, Nelson Le Follet or Nelson Follet, sometimes the Italian version of "Nelson Folletto". After his circus experience, another ideal place for Nelson's exhibitions, was the coffee-concert Paris style kind of show.

In April 1902, he staged at the Umberto the first Napolitano Theatre, a show called Arizof, described by those times' newspapers as, " a fantastic and spectacular choreographic act by Nelson Follet". The prima ballerina was Elvira Valentini. After this, he had shows in France, Belgium, Poland and Brazil, being active until the eve of the First World War. In the first years after the war, he worked as a theatre agent, based in Genova. Only few photos of Nelson Le Follet are left; the only existent photo, from the early 1900s, shows a fascinating Enrico, dressed with a coat in sea otter fur and beaver fur reverts and a cylinder hat. Carlo Alfredo Clerici, Stefania Acerra. Le magiche avventure di Nelson Le Follet. Vita e spettacoli di Enrico Viganego, artista della Belle Époque. Dispensa della conferenza tenuta a Milano, 8 settembre 2015. Con testimonianze di Elvira Costa, discendente di Bartolomeo Viganego. Media related to Nelson le Follet at Wikimedia Commons Photos on Flickr