Mario Ammann: The man from the Rhine valley is chief of staff at the OL WM 2003

The unique opportunity to be WOC meet director!

In the organizing committee there is also a person from the canton St. Gallen called Mario Ammann, a sportsman and politician from the Rhine valley who acts as the vice president for the World Orienteering Championships 2003. For six years Ammann has been a member of the cantonal government, and for two years he has been president of the orienteering association St.Gallen/Appenzell. His sports-enthusiastic and tolerant family assists him to master the many duties of job, sports, politics and family matters.

"My enthusiasm for orienteering, my joy for the movement in forest and nature and the conviction that orienteering is a sport with added value are enough motivation for me to engage myself completely for the cause." This says Mario Ammann while commenting on his motives that brought him to offer his cooperation to the organizing committee of the OL WM 2003 - a cooperation he tries to fulfill as chief of staff, meet director and deputy of the president as well.

Who is the man from the Rhine valley?
In the early seventies the career of the juvenile guy from the Rhine valley started in the former orienteering association East Switzerland. "At my first single start I experienced a bad awakening in the Eschenberg near Winterthur", says today's deputy head of accounting at the Cantonal Bank of St. Gallen. Apparently, many orienteering enthusiasts do experience the very same as he did, with no chance avoiding the contamination with the orienteering virus. His coaches from that time, Dieter Wolf, Wisi Schneider as well as Ruth and Urs Schaffner aroused his orienteering-specific enthusiasm. Orienteering highlights of his sports career included the silver medal at the Swiss Championships 1976 in Cademario in the class H20. In 1981, Mario Ammann moved to St. Gallen. In 1986, the FA accountant moved back to the Rhine valley into a wine village called Berneck. During this time he took a timeout from orienteering for several years.

Man with social involvement
Already in the orienteering association East Switzerland the high-school student Ammann offered his abilities not only as a sportsman, but also as an editor to the club newsletter. During the time as the editor-in-chief, he created a club newsletter that was worth reading. The level of quality set a standard that turned out to be a real challenge for all his successors. Luckily, today's association "thurgorienta" still has a renown club newsletter. During his time in Berneck he started a second hobby. He played the E-flat horn in the local orchestra and was its president for seven years. In addition he was the treasurer of the local church community. That much voluntarism just had to lead straight into politics, where in 1996 he was elected to the cantonal government of St. Gallen. Until this day, Mario Ammann is a member of the Christian People's Party (CVP). In this function the man from Berneck assumed a position opposite to the ideas of the rest of the orienteers concerning the referendum against the forest-protection act of the canton St. Gallen. Apparently, the referendum did not pass. The way, however, in which the forest-protection act is handled today, shows that he was right. The sport of orienteering has quite a good life regarding how the act is interpreted. As it were a side activity he also took over the lead of the orienteering association St. Gallen/Appenzell, which is quite successful on the elite level these days.

A man from East Switzerland in an Organizing Committee from Zurich
It is an open secret that the organizing committee of OL WM 2003 is in the hands of people from the canton Zurich. In July of last year, the president of the committee, Sönke Bandixen, brought with the H45-runner Mario Ammann an element from East Switzerland into the closest panel of this big sports event with venue Rapperswil/Jona - a twin community that, to let all readers know, belongs to the canton St. Gallen. Sönke and Mario know each other from an early age. "You'll get the offer to work for the organization of a world championship probably just once." With these words the family father of three justifies his acceptance to collaborate in the organizing committee. He is convinced to enter into dimensions that are not even nearly affected for the organization of national championships. "It is exactly this challenge and the knowledge that I am going to join other competent persons in the tug-of-war. This is unique and fascinating," the vice president of OL WM 2003 is looking forward to the last preparatory month. Otherwise, Mario Ammann wants to see his effort as an orienteering official also as a thank-you gesture to a sport that causes his wife Monika and himself a lot of joy. At any rate, daughter Rahel belongs to the best D16 runners of Switzerland.

Text: Martin Meier

Picture: Roland Eggspühler

Posted: 2003-05-01 22:33:40