Former President of the International Olympic...
Samaranch was elected President of the IOC at the 83rd IOC Session in Moscow in mid-July that was held prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics.
He was the first to give a new unique definition to relations between sports and politics under the present day conditions.
"The political problems, which always were, render this or that influence on the course of Games, but, as the Olympic movement becomes more and more strong with each year, it can influence on the solving of these problems," he said.
Even in the most difficult years of political boycotts of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, he heroically carried the torch of the Olympic Movement.
Under his presidency, the IOC established cooperation with the International Association of Sports Information (IASI) and the Olympic Games at that time were broadcast by the world"s leading television companies. The scale of broadcasting has considerably extended to include shows over the Internet.