Born in Ghent, Rogge competed in yachting in the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics and was a player in the Belgian rugby team before he became a member of the IOC in 1991, while being president of the Belgian National Olympic Committee.
In 2001, he was elected as the successor of Juan Antonio Samaranch, who had led the IOC since 1980. One of the core points of his policy is to limit the number of participants in the Olympics at the current size of about 10,000.