In 21 years in office as the seventh President of Olympic Committee, between 1980 and 2001, Juan Antonio Samarach, developed the Olympic Games and fought a strong battle against corruption.
Samaranch who supported the candidature of Madrid 2016 for the Olympics, was the protagonist of an intense and important time of the IOC, which saw a boom in the popularity of the Games, doping battles, corruption scandals in Salt Lake City during the winter Games that provoked the expulsion of 10 IOC members, political problems and the introduction of professionalism.
Becoming the second President who ruled the IOC over its 107 years of existence, Samaranch also achieved the election of Jacques Rogge as the new President and the appointment of his son in the IOC.
Last Sunday he suffered a heart failure that caused that eventually caused him the deceased at 89 years old on Wednesday April 21st in Barcelona, Spain, the city of his birth.
