Even though Juan Antonio Samaranch is no longer president of the International Olympic Committee, his shadow remains over the IOC. The new president, Jacques Rogge begins his tenure under the cloud of a bitter tirade launched by Kim Un-yong of South Korea. After coming a distant second in Monday’s ballot, Kim attributed his defeat to a last-minute smear campaign orchestrated by Samaranch to scupper his presidential hopes. He alleged that the then president had “used his influence and IOC resources, against all rules of fairness set forth by the IOC, to contrive the election of Jacques Rogge”.
No one can say, for sure, if there is truth in the charge. However, there are many who will not put it beyond Samaranch who has been, throughout his tenure, a controversial figure. His 21-year tenure saw major changes in the four-yearly contests of international sporting excellence. He took over in 1980 when the Olympic movement appeared to be on the brink of ruin. The American-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics that year, over the invasion of Afghanistan led to a tit-for-tat Soviet bloc boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics four years later.
One of Samaranch’s great qualities has been his extraordinary diplomatic skills. Knowing that he was unable to do anything about the superpower stand off, he concentrated on making the Los Angeles Games a huge success, both in sporting and commercial terms. His successful negotiations to involve major sponsors enabled the IOC, which in 1983 was on the verge of bankruptcy, to organize an Olympiad in California which not only made a substantial profit but which was beamed by television into homes around the world.
Money began to roll in and with it applications from cities everywhere to have the honor of staging the Games. In the face of such success, even the old superpower rivalries wilted. But a series of scandals, stemming from the selection of Salt Lake City for next year’s Winter Olympics, led to the voluntary or forced resignation of ten IOC committee members who apparently took gifts and payola worth $1 million to vote for the US city. The tide of allegations lapped against the feet of Samaranch himself, whose lavish jet-setting executive style had already led to widespread comment.
The highly successful 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Samaranch’s native city, were arguably the high point of his career. Friends reportedly urged him to stand down but, instead, he organized a change in the IOC rules so that he would not be obliged to retire through age. Despite the roller-coaster course of his career and much carping from his critics, Samaranch seemed set to complete his work in Moscow, on a high. Unfortunately his vigorous proposal of his son as a member of the IOC committee has proven to be an inept and inglorious maneuver, which will cloud his memory.
His detractors claimed that this final act of nepotism crowned a career that has been characterized with many ambiguous decisions and actions. Also, Samaranch has never quite managed to distance himself from the corruption scandals that have engulfed the IOC. Now here comes one more question that needs to be answered.
