He grew up in Geneva and graduated from college. He then studied human medicine in Ghent. As a teenager, Rogge initially pursued a sporting career as a professional rugby player. With his team he became Belgian champions several times. He also played ten international matches for Belgium. Rogge then began a career as a professional sailor. In the one-man Finn-Dingi sailing class he took part in the Summer Olympics in 1968 in Mexico City, 1972 in Munich and 1976 in Montreal, where Rogge was unable to place in the top ranks. He won the title at the World Sailing Championships; He was runner-up twice in the world championship. In 1976 he ended his active career as a professional athlete, after which he made a name for himself as a sports official.

Rogge became a member of the Belgian NOK and served as Chef de Mission of the Belgian team at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck and 1988 in Calgary, as well as at the Summer Olympics in Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984 and 1988 in Seoul. In addition to his official work, he worked as director of the orthopedic clinic in Ghent and also taught as a lecturer in sports medicine at the Free University of Brussels. In 1989, Jacques Rogge was appointed President of the Belgian NOC, a position he held until 1992. In 1991, he became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), where he served on various program commissions in the 1990s. At the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, Rogge served as chairman of the coordination commission.

As successor to the Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch, who held the office for 21 years, Jacques Rogge was elected 8th President of the IOC in July 2001 at the 112th session in Moscow. The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were his first as IOC president. One of the key points of his policy was to limit the number of Olympians to 10,000. He also tried to campaign against the increasing gigantism in construction projects and commerce. In 2007 he and the IOC were awarded the Champions of Earth Award. In 2008 he and the IOC were awarded the Closed Oyster journalism prize from Network Research, which criticized the IOC's information policy.

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