IOC Visionary Passes Away
Past IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch
Juan Antonio Samaranch, the second-longest serving International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, passed away of cardio-respiratory failure in Barcelona on April 21st, 2010 after a long bout of ill-health.
Born into a wealthy Catalan family in Barcelona in July 1920, Samaranch was an avid roller hockey player and was enlisted to the Spanish army during the Spanish Civil War. From 1967-1971, Samaranch served as Minister of Sport and from there become involved with the Spanish National Olympic Committee, Vice-President of the IOC from 1974-1978, and eventually President of the IOC from 1980-2001.
Samaranch was elected the 7th president of the IOC at the IOC Session in Moscow just prior to the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Although a bit controversial, Samaranch is credited with taking the financial ruin of the Olympic movement and turning it into one of the most profitable events in the world. After the incredible financial loss of the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the boycotting of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the movement was on the verge of ruin when only Los Angeles was prepared to bid for the 1984 Olympic Games after some encouragement from the IOC. His introduction of big television deals and sponsorships for host cities and countries made the Olympic Games more financially viable.
During his presidency, Samaranch was criticized for the bribery scandal of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics which led to the resignation or expelling of ten IOC Board members. His vision of having the best athletes compete at the Olympic Games also drew criticism for allowing professional athletes to compete in an amateur setting and was also accused of not taking performance enhancing drugs in sport seriously enough.
Samaranch was the first IOC president to introduce the tradition of giving the president’s address at the close of each Olympic Games to praise the organizers and has become something that each host country waits in earnest to hear. To date, the only Olympic Games to have the nomenclature of “best ever Olympic Games” withheld during the President’s address was the 1996 Atlanta Olympics were the organizers came under constant heavy criticism.
Current IOC President, Jacques Rogge, said of Samaranch, “I cannot find the words to express the distress of the Olympic family.” He continued that he “was personally deeply saddened by the death of the man who built up the Olympic Games of the modern era…”.
In 2001, Samaranch decided not to pursue the IOC Presidency allowing Jacques Rogge to succeed him. This allowed the IOC to institute a 12-year presidency policy limit for future IOC Presidents and gave him the title of Honorary President for Life of the IOC. Samaranch served as IOC President for 21 years, second in length only to the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertain’s, presidency of 29 years.
Samaranch will be buried in Barcelona after a public funeral expected to take place on April 22nd.
