(ATR) As one of only a handful of IOC members with finance and Olympic experience, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Jr. appears to be on an upward trajectory. An IOC member since 2001, he became an executive board member in 2012 and is said to have wielded considerable influence in the voting to retain modern pentathlon as a core Olympic sport at the EB meeting in February.
The 54-year-old, an amiable presence around the Olympic Movement, bounced back strongly from Madrid’s crushing defeat in the 2020 Olympic bid race, a bitter blow for Spain and high-ranking NOC officials including himself.
With Norway’s Gerhard Heiberg departing as head of the IOC marketing commission after the Sochi Games, Samaranch is one of those being touted as a successor. Drawing on his nine years on the commission, the son of the late former IOC president is a strong candidate to land the position. At an important time in the evolution of the TOP sponsorship program under new IOC leadership, he appears to have the qualities to take it to the next level.
2013 ranking: unranked
Reported byMark Bisson
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