Gianni Merlo

Gianni Merlo President, International Sports Press Association (AIPS) Gianni Merlo is President of AIPS (Association International de la Press Sportive) President since May 2005 with around 156 associated member nations. Born in 1947 in Vigevano of Italy, Merlo was unanimously re-elected for the latest 4-year office term as AIPS President in 2013 during the AIPS Congress held on 17 April 2013 at Moldova SOCHI. The latest term became the third for Merlo. The 68th AIPS Congress in Marrakech, a major city in the northwest African nation of Morocco, had marked a milestone - the end of Togay Bayatli's 12-year presidential reign and the election of his successor Gianni Merlo. Merlo began his journalistic career in 1967 with the magazine "Atletica Leggera", founded by his father Dante, and then he became a contributor to newspapers including "Il Giorno", "La Gazzetta del Popolo" and the "Corriere dello Sport-Stadio". In 1972 he held the office of television commentator assistant; first for the Italian Swiss television and then for the RAI, the national Italian network. In 1974 he was employed by Italy's leading daily sports newspaper "Gazzetta dello Sport" where he held the office of head of the athletics, winter sports and Olympic departments. He has been a correspondent at 20 Olympic Games: 10 in winter, Innsbruck 1976, Lake Placid 1980, Sarajevo 1984, Calgary 1988, Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994, Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002 , Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010 and 10 in Summer , Munich 1972, Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Merlo has been present at more than 30 World Championships and European Championships in athletics and in skiing. His focus is mainly on Athletics, Skiing and Olympic Politics with his professional career beginning at La Gazzetta dello Sport and continuing there. In 1983 Merlo has edited two sport encyclopedias for Rizzoli, the editorial group of La Gazzetta dello Sport: "Conoscere l'atletica" and "Conoscere lo sci". Since 1990 he has been the director of the magazine "Atletica Leggera" and has launched and edited two volumes entitled "Atletica" and "Sci" which are part of the series "I grandi sport illustrati". He is a member of USSI, the Italian Sport Journalist Association, and was Chairman of the AIPS Athletics Commission since 1986 and president of UEPS (now AIPS Europe) from 1984 to 1988. Merlo held the office of Chairman of the IAAF Press Commission since 2004 and is a member of the IOC and FIFA Press Commissions. In 2008 Merlo wrote the book "Dream Runner" with Oscar Pistorius. While delivering a keynote address in Turkmenistan International Sports Media Forum (TISMF) in Ashgabat on 'The power of sport and the media to help open up a nation to the world' Merlo, who speaks English and has knowledge of French, Spanish and German, assured that AIPS was well placed to help emerging nations use sport as a way of communicating internationally. He also commented that these were exciting times for sport in Turkmenistan. During the TISMF in Ashgabat, the capital city of Turkmenistan, in the last week of November, Merlo took time off to speak to Binod Dhungel, the Consulting Editor of Bhutan News Service on a range of issues- particularly related to media, sports and refugees. In the exclusive interview with the Bhutan's first news agency in Ashgabat, AIPS President Merlo mentioned that refugees also have 'right to sports' and announced of support from AIPS to those journalists in exile from Bhutan who really want to enhance their capacity and skill in sports journalism. The following script is from his brainstorming interview which is also available in the audio. The excerpts of the exclusive interview are as follows: .

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