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Thierry Daniel Sprunger was born on December 24, 1960 in Bienne, Switzerland. His father emigrated to South Africa shortly thereafter. Thierry followed an Anglo-Saxon schooling where sport was considered an integral part of the education system. He played at a competitive schoolboy level in Rugby, Cricket, Squash, Tennis, Athletics and Football.

At the end of his schooling, he followed the family back to Europe, first to London, followed by Periguex (France) and finally Lausanne (Switzerland). He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Economics and Geography in 1984. The same year, he joined Price Waterhouse Lausanne, a small audit office but which was responsible for the audit of entities of many multinational companies based in the region. He continued playing Rugby and Squash at a competitive level and represented Switzerland in Rugby some twenty times. He coached his local rugby side for many years and was the club President thereafter. He married Karin in 1989 and they have since had two sons – Kelly in 1989 and Yann in 1993.

In 1994, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch, appointed him as Director of Control and Coordination of Operations at the IOC. During the period 1994 to 2001, he accumulated a number of management positions in the fields of Finance, Human Resources, Logistics and Technical Services, Language Services and Records Management. With the arrival of the new IOC President, Jacques Rogge, at the end of 2001, his title was changed to Chief Financial Officer / Director of Finance and Administration responsible for Finance, Logistics and Technical Services and Protocol, Events and Hospitality.