In the late seventies, the Olympic movementwas on the verge of collapse. It was unprofitable to host the Games for the host country, and the big cities were not eager to spend huge money on sporting events. However, at the most critical moment, Juan Antonio Samaranch became the head of the International Olympic Committee. A supporter of a fascist dictator, a world hockey champion, a possible KGB agent, a marquis - the life story of this man seems to be written off from the pages of an adventure novel.
Stormy youth
Samaranch Juan Antonio was born in 1920year in Barcelona in a wealthy family of textile industrialists. The future head of the Olympic movement since childhood has been friends with sports and has been playing hockey with great success.
The beginning of the biography of Juan Samaranch coincidedof time with tragic and bloody pages in the life of Spain. In the thirties, a civil war broke out in the country, and soon the 18-year-old hockey player was drafted into the republican army. Juan Antonio Samaranch did not accept this invitation and fled to France. There he decided that the ideas of the dictator Franco were closer to him, and after a short time he returned to his homeland, joining the phalanx of the sinister general.
The republic came to an end, with the strong military support of Germany, General Franco put down resistance, and Samaranch Juan Antonio decided to take up his education and entered Barcelona Business School.
Sports exploits
The native of Barcelona was very versatile.a person who successfully combined several activities. Samaranch Juan Antonio did not leave the roller-hockey classes, and besides he worked as a journalist in the sports newspaper "La Prensa". An ardent fan of FC Barcelona, he could not ignore the deafening loss of his favorite team to Real Madrid in Madrid with a score of 11: 2. On the pages of his newspaper, Samaranch spoke out with fierce criticism of the Madrid club, for which he was immediately dismissed.
Having completed his career as a sports journalist, he plunged into a family business and achieved great success in the textile business.
However, Juan did not break completely with the sport.He continued to actively play hockey, and after completing an active career he became a coach. It was with Samaranch that the Spanish national team for the first time in history managed to win the world champion title, beating the unbeatable Portuguese in 1951. The Pyreneans subsequently became the strongest on the planet 15 times, and the future head of the IOC stood at the origin of these victories.
Politician and sports official
The indefatigable Spaniard did not limit his exploits toarenas and decided to try their hand at managing sports at the highest level. From 1955 to 1962 Samaranch Juan Antonio served as curator of the Barcelona Municipal Council on Sports. Not without success, he participated in political life across Spain. For ten years in a row, Samaranch sat in the lower house of the country's parliament. In 1966, he was appointed to the post of chairman of the national Olympic Committee.
However, everything comes to an end, and in 1977, General Franco, whose long-term supporter was a native of Barcelona, dies.
Его назначают послом Испании в СССР, что practically meant a link from the country. With the Soviet Union, Spain only after the death of Franco restored diplomatic relations, and Juan Antonio Samaranch faced hard and ungrateful work to improve relations with former enemies. However, he brilliantly coped with his work and in three years of diplomatic work won many Russian friends and gained a wide circle of acquaintances. This even gave rise to the claims of numerous Spaniard enemies that he was recruited as a KGB agent during his diplomatic work in Moscow.
Climbing to the top of Olympus
Despite all the troubles at home, SamaranchJuan Antonio continued to enjoy enormous prestige in the IOC. In 1974, he became vice-president of the International Olympic Committee and was considered one of the most reputable sports officials.
Diplomatic work has borne fruitSamaranch. At the regular IOC session in Moscow shortly before the start of the Olympics, he was elected to the presidency of this organization, ahead of Willy Dauma from Germany. The Spaniard was elected largely thanks to the support of the USSR, which provided him with the votes of countries from the socialist camp.
Reformer
Samaranch got a difficult legacy fromprevious guide. The IOC experienced serious financial difficulties, the Games were unprofitable, and the international Olympic movement was on the verge of collapse.
Однако умелый бизнесмен совершил настоящую revolution in the world sports organization. He made the IOC autonomous financially, managed to organize the sale of television rights to broadcast the Games, made proposals for the expansion of the Olympic competition program.
Thanks to Samaranch, viewers could finallysee at the Olympics world football stars, when in 1988 the conflict between the IOC and FIFA was resolved, and at the Games in Seoul many famous players could take part. It was during the Samaranch era that the US basketball team arrived at the basketball tournament, composed not of students, but of NBA players.
Что парадоксально, многие недоброжелатели ставят Samaranch is blamed for his services, accusing him of excessively commercializing the Games and killing the Olympic spirit. Nevertheless, the legendary sports figure with dignity performed his difficult duties until 2001, after which he resigned, remaining honorary for life as the chairman of the IOC.
A family
In 1955, a politician and businessman married Maria Theresa Salizaks.
The title of Juan Antonio Samaranch is the Marquis, but for the world Olympic movement he became a real emperor.
