Liston Bochette

Liston (Lin) D. Bochette III, born June 16, 1957, is an internationally recognized athlete, artist and civic leader. He participated in several Olympic Games as an athlete and administrator.^[1]

Bochette was a Junior All American, attended the University of Florida on a Track and Field Scholarship offered to him by Olympic Coach Jimmy Carnes and was later inducted into the University's Hall of Fame.^[2] He also studied at Florida State University, the University of Puerto Rico, and was accepted at Stanford University. He collected a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Florida; a Master's degree in Humanities from Inter American University; studied an ED. at Inter American University and completed a Ph.D. in Education from Pacific Western University.^{[citation needed]} In 1983 he was awarded a Citation of Merit by the Senate of Puerto Rico.

Bochette competed internationally in the decathlon for Puerto Rico in Track and Field Team and won a gold at the 1982 Central American and Caribbean Games^[3] Beginning in the 1980s, he worked closely with many International Olympic Committee Members, including German Rieckehoff Sampayo in developing programs and projects for the Olympic Family. He participated, in various capacities, in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games—as an advocate for Olympic values; a qualified athlete Track and Field in 1984, as an official in 1988; and as a bobsleigh athlete for Puerto Rico in 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2002.^[1] In 2002-2006, he served on the International Olympic Committee’s elite Athletes Commission in Switzerland. In 1999 he was unanimously elected as Secretary General of the World Olympian Association and served two terms. International Olympic Committee.^[3] In this position he led a highly successful global campaign to unite alumni athletes under the Olympic banner in order to promote Olympic values in their countries.^{[citation needed]} He founded the Pan American Olympians Association in 2006 to improve fellowship among the Olympians in the hemisphere and the International Cultural Consortium for enhancing the union between sport and cultural as an educational instrument. He created the International Cultural Consortium and Chairs the Olympian Foundationi. In 1992, he was awarded a Gold Medal by the President of the International Olympic Committee for Art at the Cultural Arts Festival in 1994, during the Barcelona Olympic Games.^{[citation needed]} In 1996 he was named the International Sports Artist of the Year by the United States Sports Academy and later served on the institutions Board of Directors. He was also named as one of the greatest Athletes of the century in Southwest Florida by the Gannett News Press.

Bochette served on many international sports federation bodies, including the United States President's Panel on Olympic Affairs.^{[citation needed]} He is the founding President of the Puerto Rico National Olympians Association and assisted over one hundred countries develop their Olympians Associations. World Olympians Association (WOA). Bochette has been an executive officer of the University of Florida Track and Field Alumni Association (UFTFAA),^[4] and has also served on many academic and civic boards^{[citation needed]} He was the co-founder along with four time Olympic Gold medalist Al Oerter and board member for the Art of the Olympians. He also initiated the establishment of the Al Oerter Center for Excellence and serves on the Board of the Uncommon Friends Foundation.^[5] He taught as a professor at Inter American University and continues to serve as a visiting professor at Tiffin University’s College of Sports Management.

Bochette has an extended history of public speaking at schools, universities, professional organizations. He has addressed meetings at the United Nations and served as an elected official in government with distinction. Bochette serves as a consulting partner for Arnold Entertainment and film productions. He is a published author or feature appearing many print and electronic magazines including the Olympic Review, Gannet New, Lee Living, Gulfshore Life. His artwork has been in exhibitions in Osaka, Monte Carlo, Athens, New York, and other major cultural capitals.

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