(ATR) IOC president Thomas Bach touted the legacy of former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch at the release of a new biography about the man Bach says "forged the modern Olympic Movement".
"Samaranch insisted that dialogue and diplomacy were essential to keep that transparency to preserve the magic of the Olympic Games, which gave us hope that a better world is possible," Bach said.
The biography titled "President Samaranch: 21 Years of the IOC Presidency that Changed Sport" was written by journalists Pedro Palacios, Edgar Mont-Roig and Juan Manuel Surroca and edited together by the Samaranch Foundation. The work took four years to complete.
"The book is a tribute to Samaranch, the grand architect of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona that dazzled the world, although some of his and my compatriots today appreciate it with undeserved and unjust silence," said Palacios.
Samaranch presided over the IOC for 21 years from 1980-2001 and is credited with developing the TOP sponsor program that revitalized the commercial efforts of the organization.
"It's not an academic study," Palacios tells Around the Rings. "We have applied a journalistic vision interspersed with anecdotes, statements, testimonials and an extensive family photo album. With it we have tried to make an x-ray of the Samaranch era, a key figure in the transition and modernization of the Olympic Movement."
The ceremony for the book’s launch was held at the headquarters of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) in Madrid, Spain. Bach was joined in Madrid by COE president Alejandro Blanco, IOC Executive Board Member and son of the honoree Juan Antonio Samaranch as well as IOC Members Marisol Casado and Jose Perurena.
As an Olympic gold medalist in 1976, Bach was chosen by Samaranch in September 1981 to speak on behalf of the athletes at the Olympic Congress in Baden-Baden, Germany. One day later, Bach was selected to be a member of the first athletes’ commission that was chaired by Peter Tallberg. Bach was joined on the commission by notable Olympians such as Seb Coe, Ivar Formo, Svetla Otzetova, Kipchoge Keino and Vladislav Tretyak.
While in Spain, Bach also met with acting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and talked about the country’s preparations for the upcoming Rio Olympics this August as well as the role sports play in society. Following the meeting, Bach visited the headquarters of the Olympic Channel in Madrid where he received updates on the channel’s progress.
The IOC says the launch date for the Olympic Channel will be announced in the next few weeks.
Written by Kevin Nutley and Miguel Hernandez
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