Sports
Juan Antonio Samaranch passed away on April...
of support during his bid for president of the IOC. He had served as the Spanish ambassador to the Soviet Union, and so he had lots of friends among the Soviet sports elite, particularly Vitaly Smirnov, deputy head of the Moscow Olympics Organizing Committee for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Smirnov lobbied socialist countries hard on Samaranch"s behalf. Samaranch"s tenure as president began in Moscow and ended there 21 years later with the election of Jacques Rogge. His reign had come to an end, but the era of Samaranch lived on until his death on April 21, 2010.Muscovites referred to him affectionately as Ivan Antonovich, both behind his back and to his face at casual mixers. The wealthy, refined aristocrat accepted his Russified name with a smile.
He never made a secret of his Falangist past, even though it was often used against him. These criticisms were unfair, as they ignored his trademark political flexibility and realism.