Paul Kölliker

Paul Kölliker was a Swiss rower who made the final of the coxless four at Roma in 1960, placing sixth. Earlier that year, his boats had won Swiss titles in the pairs and fours and finished second in the eights. He would become better known for his work in rowing administration as Kölliker was first chairman of the media commission for Fédération Internationale Société d’Aviron (FISA) and he remained its chair for many years.

His life was varied and adventurous. Initially Kölliker did not finish school but became a toolmaking apprentice in Kriens, and then settled in Sweden, working as a lumberjack. On his return to Switzerland he made the national athletics team as a high jumper, but then took up rowing, while returning to school to get a diploma in sports teaching.

Kölliker taught secondary school in Musegg until 1965 after which he and his family went to North Africa to set up a training workshop for Algerian war orphans in Tunisia. They then moved to Nepal to run an aid project in a mountain valley, but then returned to Switzerland, settling in Lucerne, where Kölliker set up a home for young people with behavioral problems, which became the Schachen-Lucerne School and Residential Centre. He then switched to journalism, working initially at Zuger Tagblatt, and then moving into television work with Tagesschau at Swiss TV, followed by time at Schweiz Aktuell and Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Paul Kölliker’s other passion was mules, which he frequently rode up and over many Alpine passes in Switzerland. He was also President of the Swiss Mule Association for several years.