Editing Juan Antonio Samaranch (section)

==Life==
Juan Antonio Samaranch was born on 17 July 1920 in Barcelona as the third of six children in a wealthy [[Catalan people|Catalan]] family. In 1938, during the [[Spanish Civil War]], he was conscripted to serve as a medical assistant in the [[Spanish Republican Armed Forces]]. Samaranch's political sympathies were for the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalists]], and he deserted to Nationalist-held territory by way of France.<ref>{{cite news |title=La larga carrera de un hombre polifacético |url=https://elpais.com/deportes/2010/04/21/actualidad/1271834520_850215.html |access-date=27 February 2020 |agency=[[El País]] |date=21 April 2010 |archive-date=27 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227152243/https://elpais.com/deportes/2010/04/21/actualidad/1271834520_850215.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On 1 December 1955, he married Maria Teresa Salisachs Rowe. With Salisachs Rowe, he had two children: [[Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs|Juan Antonio Junior]], currently a member of the International Olympic Committee, and Maria Teresa.

Samaranch started his studies at the Business School of Barcelona, which he completed in London and the US, and obtained a diploma from the Barcelona Higher Institute of Business Studies (IESE). During his studies, he practised roller hockey, for which he created World Championships in 1951 and which the Spanish team won.

A member of the [[FET y de las JONS|Falange]] in [[Francoist Spain]],<ref>{{cite news |title=As Questions Continue to Swirl Critics Point to Samaranch's Past |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB94452852840011626 |access-date=27 February 2020 |publisher=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=7 December 1999 |archive-date=27 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227152243/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB94452852840011626 |url-status=live }}</ref> Samaranch held various political positions in municipal and national government: he became a city councilor for the city of Barcelona responsible for sport in 1954, then delegate for physical education and sport in the Spanish Parliament in 1967. Samaranch was appointed president of the provincial council of Barcelona in 1973, until he resigned four years later, when he was appointed Spanish Ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Mongolia]] after the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Maintaining an active career within the Olympic Movement, Samaranch was elected vice-president of the International Mediterranean Games Committee for the second edition of the Games in Barcelona in 1955. On several occasions, he was appointed Chef de Mission: for the Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo (1956), the Summer Games in Rome (1960), and the Summer Games in Tokyo (1964). For the Rome and Tokyo Games, he was also president of the Spanish delegation. Elected a member of the Spanish Olympic Committee in 1956, he became its president in 1967 until 1970. He was elected as an IOC member in 1966. Two years later, Avery Brundage appointed him head of protocol (1968–1975 and 1979–1980). A member of the executive board (1970–1978 and 1979–1980), he was IOC vice-president from 1974 to 1978. Elected to the IOC presidency in the first round of voting on 16 July 1980 at the 83rd Session, he succeeded Lord Killanin on 3 August that year.

Samaranch acceded to the IOC presidency during the troubled political period of the Games of the XXII Olympiad in Moscow. He sought to defend the Olympic movement and raise its profile on his numerous trips and meetings with heads of state and sports leaders. In 1981, he obtained for the IOC the status of non-governmental international organisation and became the first IOC President, after Pierre de Coubertin, to establish himself in Lausanne. He was also in favour of the integration of women into the Olympic Movement, and during the Baden-Baden Congress gained permission for women to become members of the IOC. At his instigation, the IOC became involved in various initiatives to promote women and sport.

Samaranch managed to include both the NOC of the People's Republic of China and that of Chinese Taipei; with the assistance of [[Kéba Mbaye]], he contributed to the reintegration of South Africa into the Olympics after the abolition of apartheid; he visited Sarajevo during the civil war to express Olympic solidarity; and the two Koreas marched under the same flag at the opening ceremony in Sydney.

For sport, he intensified the IOC's support to organise Paralympic Games as from the Winter Games in Sarajevo in 1984. He also made doping a priority issue by launching research and control programmes. The creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999 allowed the IOC Medical Commission to extend its scope of action. He also full opening of the Olympic Games to the best athletes regardless of their status. Finally, it was under his presidency that the Summer and Winter Games were organised two years apart, instead of in the same year.

Among the reforms to the running of the IOC, he imposed a new financial policy which allowed for the increase in revenues and the diversification of resources. Thanks to a large share of the revenues generated by agreements with TV channels, he restructured Olympic Solidarity in 1981 and provided assistance to National Olympic Committees in difficulty, and developed action plans to contribute to the universality of the Games.

In 1991 he received the title of Marqués from the King of Spain for his involvement in the Olympic Movement. On 23 June 1993, the inauguration of the [[Olympic Museum]], representing the memory and spirit of modern Olympism, the work of his career, crowned his presidency. On 16 July 2001, he left the seat of the IOC presidency to [[Jacques Rogge]]. Samaranch became Honorary Life President of the IOC and was awarded the Gold [[Olympic Order]] upon standing down from the presidency. The IOC also voted to change the name of the Olympic Museum to the Samaranch Museum.<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/in_depth/2001/olympic_votes/1436765.stm|title = Samaranch honoured|date = 16 July 2001|access-date = 6 January 2019|archive-date = 25 July 2004|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040725023903/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/in_depth/2001/olympic_votes/1436765.stm|url-status = live}}</ref>

Samaranch was a devout Catholic and was a supernumerary (lay member) of [[Opus Dei]].<ref>{{cite web|title=DAS OPUS DEI AUF DEM VORMARSCH|periodical=|publisher=|url=https://monde-diplomatique.de/artikel/!1259560|url-status=live|format=|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519104512/https://monde-diplomatique.de/artikel/!1259560|archive-date=19 May 2024|author=FRANÇOIS NORMAND|date=|year=|language=|pages=|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{citation|surname1=Robert Hutchison|title=Die Heilige Mafia Des Papstes|at=p.&nbsp;150|language=German|url=https://en.calameo.com/read/006026693766e48f63a5d|access-date=10 July 2021|archive-date=28 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828024000/https://en.calameo.com/read/006026693766e48f63a5d|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Personenkult im IOC: Ministrant Bach in der Tradition des Supernumerariers Samaranch|periodical=|publisher=|url=https://www.jensweinreich.de/2020/07/18/personenkult-im-ioc-ministrant-bach-in-der-tradition-des-supernumerariers-samaranch/|url-status=live|format=|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108190414/https://www.jensweinreich.de/2020/07/18/personenkult-im-ioc-ministrant-bach-in-der-tradition-des-supernumerariers-samaranch/|archive-date=8 November 2023|author=Jens Weinreich|date=18 July 2020|language=|pages=|quote=}}</ref>

He died on 21 April 2010 at the age of 89, in Barcelona.