Juan Antonio Samaranch

Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquis of Samaranch (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈʒwan antɔˈnjɔ samaˈɾaŋk]; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010), was a Spanish sports administrator and minister of sports under the Franco-regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1980 to 2001. Samaranch served the second longest term as the head of the IOC, the longest being that of Pierre de Coubertin (29 years).

Early life

Samaranch was born into a wealthy family in Barcelona. He studied at the local Swiss School and at the German School of Barcelona. As a child, he was a keen roller hockey player. During the Spanish Civil War, he was conscripted into the Republican forces in 1938, at the age of 18, to serve as a medical orderly. However, he was politically opposed to the Republic, and escaped to France. He quickly returned to Nationalist Spain under Francisco Franco and enrolled in the Spanish fascist movement Falange.

Business and political career