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Juan Antonio Samaranch Torelló
President of the international Olympic committee, was born in Barcelona on the 17th of July 1920. His first work efforts were oriented towards obtaining the titles that would allow him to work in the textile business that his family had, being trained the in a variety of fields as corresponded to the industrial class of Barcelona in the 1930s. He became a business teacher and later graduated from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa.
His name has been linked to sports and politics for over 50 years. The first sport to which he directed his interest was skate hockey and in the middle of the forties he became a member of the Royal Spanish sports club.
He then became national skate hockey coach and in 1951 brought to the Spanish team to its first world victory that same year he created the Spanish veneration of ice hockey and Samaranch was named its President.
He started his political activity in Barcelona city Council as sports Counsellor, a position which he held between 1954 and 1962. He was also President of the sports commission of the Barcelona provincial authority between 1955 and 1966 and the representative of Catalunya to the National Delegation and Physical Education and Sports.
Between 1973 and 1977 he was President of the Barcelona provincial authority and in this latest year was named the Spanish ambassador to the Soviet Union and Mongolia, in recognition of his diplomatic and conciliation skills. He occupied this position until 1980 and in this way Juan Antonio Samaranch was the first Spanish diplomatic representative in Moscow after re-establishing official relations with that country.
He was a member of the Spanish Olympic Committee from 1956 until 1967 and was its President during the period from 1967 to 1970. In December 1966 he was appointed director of physical Education and sports in Spain, a position which he occupied until September 1970.
He was head of the Spanish mission to the Olympic games in Cortina d’Ampezzo (1956), Rome (1960) and Tokyo (1964). He was also vice president of the Mediterranean games international committee, President of honour of the roller-skating Federation Internationale, President off the Salón Náutico International of Barcelona, and vice president of the International Federation of Nautical Exhibitions.
He was elected member of the international Olympic Committee 1966 and became a member of its executive commission in May 1970. He was elected vice president in October 1974. He was also President of the press commission and head of Olympic protocol.
As a member of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch continued his unceasing work and was elected president in 1980 by the members of the organization, in the first vote, during the 83rd session of the International Olympic Committee which was held in Moscow. As President of the International Olympic Committee, his efforts in favour of the independence and solidarity of sport, reached its zenith in the Seoul Games which were not threatened by the boycott which had existed in the Moscow and Los Angeles Games. At the end of the periods for which he had been elected, in the years 1989 in Puerto Rico, 1993 in Monaco and in 1997 Lausanne, he was re-elected until his retirement in 2001
Completely dedicated to the universality of the games, he could clearly see that profession unless he should be excepted the sponsorship should be promoted and given an impulse and of the participation of all the countries in the world should be achieved and that there should be no obstacle to the participation of women.
Five key successes could be mentioned as the exponents of his Olympic project:
-the economic success of the Los Angeles games in 1984.
-having wisely avoided any possible boycott of the Seoul games in 1988, in spite of the known participation of North Korea.
-the turn of South Africa to the Barcelona games in 1992, after 32 years of punishment.
-having made a woman a member of the international Olympic Committee for the first time
-- having managed to achieve the participation of all the national Olympic committees of the world and brilliant management of the economic power of international Olympic Committee.
The 17th of October 1986 is one of the best remembered dates in his career because he fulfilled one of his greatest dreams: he announced in the 91st session of the international Olympic Committee, held in the Swiss town of Lausanne, that the city of Barcelona had been chosen as the venue all of the 25th Olympic games to be held in 1992.
A few years later, he received the Golden medal of the city of Barcelona, during the activities that were held to celebrate the first year of the designation of Barcelona as the venue for the 1992 Olympic games. He also received the Golden medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya, several national and foreign Great Crosses and has been awarded several Doctor Honoris Causa by Spanish universities and those of other countries. In March 2000 he was awarded the Collar de la Orden de Isabel la Católica, the highest civil merit which can be given by the Spanish state..
In May 1987, Juan Antonio Samaranch was elected president of “Caixa d’Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona” (La Caixa), having been member of the board of directors of that bank since 1984 and member of its executive commission since 1985. He occupied this position until January 1999 when he became president of honour of the entity.
He is a member of l’Académie Français des Sports, of the Reial Academia de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi and an honorary member of Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. He was awarded the peace prize of South Korea as well as the Prince of Asturias sports award 1988.
In 1991 he received the noble title of Marqués de Samaranch.
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