Juan Antonio Samaranch was born on 17 July 1920 in Barcelona as the third of six children in a wealthyCatalan family. In 1938, during theSpanish Civil War, he was conscripted to serve as a medical assistant in theSpanish Republican Armed Forces. Samaranch's political sympathies were for theNationalists, and he deserted to Nationalist-held territory by way of France.[4] On 1 December 1955, he married Maria Teresa Salisachs Rowe. With Salisachs Rowe, he had two children:Juan Antonio Junior, currently a member of the International Olympic Committee, and Maria Teresa.
Samaranch started his studies at the Business School of Barcelona, which he completed in London and the US, and obtained a diploma from the Barcelona Higher Institute of Business Studies (IESE). During his studies, he practised roller hockey, for which he created World Championships in 1951 and which the Spanish team won.
A member of theFalange inFrancoist Spain,[5] Samaranch held various political positions in municipal and national government: he became a city councilor for the city of Barcelona responsible for sport in 1954, then delegate for physical education and sport in the Spanish Parliament in 1967. Samaranch was appointed president of the provincial council of Barcelona in 1973, until he resigned four years later, when he was appointedAmbassador of Spain to the Soviet Union andMongolia after the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Maintaining an active career within the Olympic Movement, Samaranch was elected vice-president of the International Mediterranean Games Committee for the second edition of the Games in Barcelona in 1955. On several occasions, he was appointed Chef de Mission: for the Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo (1956), the Summer Games in Rome (1960), and the Summer Games in Tokyo (1964). For the Rome and Tokyo Games, he was also president of the Spanish delegation. Elected a member of the Spanish Olympic Committee in 1956, he became its president in 1967 until 1970. He was elected as an IOC member in 1966. Two years later, Avery Brundage appointed him head of protocol (1968–1975 and 1979–1980). A member of the executive board (1970–1978 and 1979–1980), he was IOC vice-president from 1974 to 1978. Elected to the IOC presidency in the first round of voting on 16 July 1980 at the 83rd Session, he succeeded Lord Killanin on 3 August that year.
Samaranch acceded to the IOC presidency during the troubled political period of the Games of the XXII Olympiad in Moscow. He sought to defend the Olympic movement and raise its profile on his numerous trips and meetings with heads of state and sports leaders. In 1981, he obtained for the IOC the status of non-governmental international organisation and became the first IOC President, after Pierre de Coubertin, to establish himself in Lausanne. He was also in favour of the integration of women into the Olympic Movement, and during the Baden-Baden Congress gained permission for women to become members of the IOC. At his instigation, the IOC became involved in various initiatives to promote women and sport.
Samaranch managed to include both the NOC of the People's Republic of China and that of Chinese Taipei; with the assistance ofKéba Mbaye, he contributed to the reintegration of South Africa into the Olympics after the abolition of apartheid; he visited Sarajevo during the civil war to express Olympic solidarity; and the two Koreas marched under the same flag at the opening ceremony in Sydney.
For sport, he intensified the IOC's support to organise Paralympic Games as from the Winter Games in Sarajevo in 1984. He also made doping a priority issue by launching research and control programmes. The creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999 allowed the IOC Medical Commission to extend its scope of action. He also full opening of the Olympic Games to the best athletes regardless of their status. Finally, it was under his presidency that the Summer and Winter Games were organised two years apart, instead of in the same year.
Among the reforms to the running of the IOC, he imposed a new financial policy which allowed for the increase in revenues and the diversification of resources. Thanks to a large share of the revenues generated by agreements with TV channels, he restructured Olympic Solidarity in 1981 and provided assistance to National Olympic Committees in difficulty, and developed action plans to contribute to the universality of the Games.
In 1991 he received the title of Marqués from the King of Spain for his involvement in the Olympic Movement. On 23 June 1993, the inauguration of theOlympic Museum, representing the memory and spirit of modern Olympism, the work of his career, crowned his presidency. On 16 July 2001, he left the seat of the IOC presidency toJacques Rogge. Samaranch became Honorary Life President of the IOC and was awarded the GoldOlympic Order upon standing down from the presidency. The IOC also voted to change the name of the Olympic Museum to the Samaranch Museum.[6]
Samaranch was a devout Catholic and was a supernumerary (lay member) ofOpus Dei.[7][8][9]
He died on 21 April 2010 at the age of 89, in Barcelona.
After actively participating in theSpanish Civil War, Samaranch studied commerce atIESE Business School in Barcelona. He had a short career as a sports journalist forLa Prensa, which ended in his dismissal in 1943 for criticising the supporters ofReal Madrid C.F. after that club's 11–1 defeat ofFC Barcelona, and then joined his family's textile business. He joined the board ofLa Caixa, Spain's largest savings bank, in 1984, and served as president of the board from 1987 to 1999. He remained as honorary president from his retirement in 1999 to his death.[10]
Samaranch served on the municipal government of Barcelona, with responsibility for sports, from 1955 to 1962. He was aprocurador (member of the lower house) of theCortes Españolas during the last decade of theFranco regime, from 1964 until therestoration of democracy in 1977. From 1967 to 1971, he also served as "national delegate" (minister) for sports, and from 1973 to 1977 he was the president of thediputación (governing council) of theProvince of Barcelona. He was appointedambassador of Spain to the Soviet Union and Mongolia in 1977, immediately after the restoration ofdiplomatic relations between the countries: this post helped him to gain the support of theSoviet bloc countries in the election to the presidency of the IOC, held in Moscow in 1980.[10]
He had been thechef de mission of the Spanish team at a number of Olympic events, before he was appointed Government Secretary for Sports by Spanish Head of StateFrancisco Franco in 1967. He also became the president of the Spanish National Olympic Committee and a member of the IOC. He was vice-president of the IOC from 1974 to 1978.
During his term, Samaranch oversaw the Olympic Games returned to financial health, with big television deals and sponsorships established through the efforts ofDick Pound, President of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Although the1984 Summer Olympics were still boycotted by the Soviet bloc, 140National Olympic Committees took part in those Games, a record number at the time.[12][13] and the number of participating member nations increased at every Games during Samaranch's presidency. Samaranch also wanted the best athletes to compete in the Olympics, which led to the gradual acceptance of professional athletes as opposed to amateurs or state-funded athletes, as was the case with the Soviet Union.
It became a tradition for Samaranch, when giving the president's address at the close of each Summer Olympics, to praise the organisers at each Olympiad for putting on "the best ever" Games.[14][15]
In 2001, Samaranch did not apply for the presidency again. He was succeeded byJacques Rogge. He then became honorary president for life of the International Olympic Committee. Samaranch served the second-longest term as the head of the IOC, 21 years, the longest being that ofPierre de Coubertin (29 years). Following his retirement, Samaranch played a major role inMadrid's bid for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, though both were unsuccessful. In 1991, he was raised into theSpanish nobility byKing Juan Carlos of Spain and given the hereditary title ofMarqués de Samaranch (Marquess of Samaranch), this in recognition of his contribution to the Olympic movement.[16][17]
Samaranch married María Teresa Salisachs Rowe, known as "Bibí" (26 December 1931 – 16 September 2000), on 1 December 1955. She died in Spain while he was attending the2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Two children were born of this marriage: his elder child and daughter, María Teresa Samaranch Salisachs (born 1956), has been president of the Spanish Federation of Sports on Ice since 2005,[10] while his younger child and son,Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs (born 1959), has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 2001.
Samaranch died of cardio-respiratory failure in the Hospital Quirón inBarcelona on 21 April 2010, having suffered ill health for several years prior.[18]
^"Odluka o dodjeli Ordena kralja Tomislava" [Decision on the Assignment of the Order of King Tomislav].Narodne novine (in Croatian). 26 August 1993.Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved29 September 2018.Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, which included the Croatian Olympic sport into the great worldwide community of the Olympic movement, contributing to the international recognition of the sovereign and independent Republic of Croatia. His merit has enabled Croatian athletes to represent their nation for the first time in history in the Olympics in Albertville and Barcelona, thus permanently joining the global Olympic family. With this extraordinary act, the Republic of Croatia was included in the International Olympic Committee before being invited to be a member of the United Nations.
^"The Order of Sikatuna".Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines.Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved22 May 2020.
^Slovak republic website,State honoursArchived 13 April 2016 at theWayback Machine : 1st Class in 2000 (click on "Holders of the Order of the 1st Class White Double Cross" to see the holders' table)
