IOC enjoyed golden era under Samaranch

It is nice to be back with my pet column after a brief break due to heavy official commitments during the general election season. Nevertheless, I thought I must get back to business with my favourite subject of sport and continue my column which I started early this decade on a suggestion made by the then Chief Editor of the Daily News and former Thomian cricketer Geoff Wijesinghe.

It was sad to hear of the death of former Olympic chief Juan Antonio Samaranch who was the undisputed 'king' of world sport. He experienced various ups and downs in his 21-year tenure as the President of the International Olympic Committee, overseeing the modern Olympic Games dealt with boycotts by the United States and former Soviet Union and a bribery scandal involving selection of host city for Winter Olympics earlier in the decade.

The former IOC chief who was 89 years old at the time of his death, passed away last Sunday, after being admitted to a hospital in the Spanish capital with heart problems.

I could well remember those cherished moments in Samaranch's life as a sports administrator as the proud Spaniard graced the opening ceremony of the 1992 summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, the native city of the former IOC President.

First assignment

Covering the XXIVth Olympic Games in the Spanish capital as my first overseas assignment as a sports journalist, I was fortunate enough to witness one of the greatest summer Games ever in the world sports history.

The IOC put its maximum weight and fully backed the Organising Committee to make the Barcelona Olympics the most successful Games in every aspect. The success behind the success story of Barcelona Olympic Games was none other than the invisible strength of Samaranch, the second longest serving IOC President after Pierre de Coubertin of France, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. The Spaniard was in the IOC top seat from 1980 to 2001.

Samaranch had to face various problems during his illustrious career as a sports administrator. During the early part, he had to face criticism for his participation in the government of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

Big time

It was during his two-decade long era at the IOC that the Olympic Games broke into big time sponsorships. He was able to generate billions of dollars for the Olympic movement as corporate sponsorship and revenue generated through television broadcast rights soared during his tenure. With these big time sponsorships invading Olympic Games, both summer and winter events, more and more bids were put forward by cities around the globe to host the world sports extravaganza.

The 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, in which our own Susanthika Jayasinghe bagged Sri Lanka's first medal in 52 years, was the last under Samaranch's presidency. It reached the pinnacle of fund generation during his era as the Sydney Games reaped broadcast revenue of USD 1.3 billion. Sponsorship income rose more than five-fold between 1988 and 2000 as the IOC intensified its marketing team under Samaranch's leadership.

His inspiring leadership saw IOC's assets growing from USD two million in 1980 to USD 900 million in 2001 - a massive increase by 450 times in 21 years!

Landmark

Despite his landmark achievement as the IOC chief, Samaranch had to face his own share of criticism as the selection of Salt Lake City to host 2002 Winter Games was marred by a bribery scandal.

It was a well-know fact that the increased use of drugs by athletes and gifts accepted by IOC members who were short-listing applications to pick the host city of the 2002 Winter Games.

It was on record that the then World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound saying that Samaranch "wasn't interested in the issue" of using performance enhancing drugs.

The bitter battle between Samaranch and Pound continued as the latter had served as a member of the IOC´s executive board under Samaranch. But the IOC chief then shot back alleging that Pound was bitter because he had lost his 2001 bid to become the next IOC president.

Nevertheless, Samaranch showed his commitment to fighting performance enhancing drugs with the IOC's role in creating the anti-doping agency as well as the Court for Arbitration for Sport, which handles disputes over alleged use of banned steroids and other disciplinary matters.

One such instance, as earlier pointed out by Samaranch, was the Olympic movement's decision to strip the gold medal won by Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul Olympics after the Canadian sprinter had a positive dope test result.

Biggest problem

But the biggest problem faced by Samaranch during his record term as the IOC chief emerged in 1995 when a fresh scandal arose over the IOC decision to select Salt Lake City to host 2002 Winter Olympics. Subsequent investigations revealed that Salt Lake City bid officials had given expensive gifts to IOC members and their families to a staggering USD one million. As a result, 10 IOC members were either expelled or forced to resign.

The late IOC President was better known as a "behind-the-scenes lobbyist", consolidating his position in the IOC slowly but steadily. During his unprecedented five terms as the IOC President, Samaranch had the fortune of visiting all 199 member countries of the IOC.

The innings of Samaranch at the IOC top seat could well be considered the golden era of the Olympic movement. One can not talk about the Olympic movement or on the modern Olympic Games without Samaranch. He was a household name and was equally popular as the Olympic Games.

Perhaps one may think that Samaranch dominated in the IOC for longer duration, conveniently blocking the entry of his rivals. But at the same time, contribution of Samaranch for the growth of the Olympic movement and increasing popularity of the Olympic Games was immense. If not for some of his bold and courageous decisions, the IOC would not have enjoyed such a success story.