Former International Olympic Committee president Samaranch dead [Updated]

[Maggie222]

Apr 20, 12:38 PM EDT

Samaranch in 'very serious' condition in hospital

By PAUL LOGOTHETIS
AP Sports Writer

AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer

Olympics News
Samaranch in 'very serious' condition in hospital

MADRID (AP) -- Former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch was in "very serious" condition Tuesday in an intensive care unit at a hospital in Barcelona.

Quiron Hospital chief of internal medicine Rafael Esteban said the 89-year-old Spaniard was under observation for heart problems. He has been bothered by health issues for several years.

"Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch Torello has been admitted to the Quiron Hospital of Barcelona with an acute coronary insufficiency," Esteban said in a statement. "He is currently in intensive care and his prognosis is very serious."

Samaranch, who headed the IOC from 1980-2001, was hospitalized for 11 days in Switzerland in 2001 with "extreme fatigue" after returning from an IOC session in Moscow, where Jacques Rogge was elected as his successor.

He was also hospitalized shortly afterward in Barcelona for what was described as high blood pressure. He has received regular dialysis treatment for kidney trouble.

Samaranch spent two days in a hospital in Madrid in 2007 after a dizzy spell, and underwent hospital checks in Monaco in October after feeling ill at a sports conference.

Samaranch retired after 21 years as the second-longest serving president in the history of the IOC. His era was marked by political boycotts, the end of amateurism and the advent of professionalism, the explosion of commercialization, a boom in growth and popularity of the games, the scourge of doping and the Salt Lake City corruption scandal.

He considered stepping down after the 1992 Olympics in his home city of Barcelona and again after the centennial games in Atlanta in 1996. Each time, encouraged by his supporters, he chose to continue. Twice, he had the age limit changed to allow him to stay on.

Even in retirement, Samaranch remained active in Olympic circles and tried to help Madrid secure the 2012 and 2016 Games. Madrid finished third behind winner London and Paris in the vote for the 2012 Olympics, and second to Rio de Janeiro for 2016.

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Associated Press writer Jorge Sainz contributed to this report.

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[Buzz]

Sorry to hear about his condition and hope he recovers soon.

[pollyanna]

Unfortunately, Senor Samaranch did not recover. He was 89 years old.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100421...20100421120028

http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories...aspx?id=453747

RIP Mr. Samaranch. You were the face of the Olympics for me during all of my adult years.

[ChelleC]

RIP

[Buzz]

sorry to hear he has past. R.I.P.

[Aussie Willy]

These were the best games ever. RIP

Also Syd-den-ee!

[allezfred]

His daughter is President of the Spanish Federation of Ice Sports. My condolences to her. It's always hard to lose a parent whatever their age.

RIP.

[AragornElessar]

I'm surprised he lived this long considering just *how* serious I'd heard his heart problems were. When you consider the stress being President of the IOC had to bring and that couldn't have helped his health problems during the latter years of his reign.

Condolences to his family and may he rest in peace.

[caseyedwards]

Condolences to the family. I feel he was great for the Olympic movment.

[briancoogaert]

Viva Olympics !
RIP.

[BigB08822]

RIP! I never knew much about him but being a huge Olympic nut, I knew his name very well!

[Garden Kitty]

Christine Brennan's column about the conflicts in his personality.

[skatesindreams]

That was an interesting article.
All leaders have their faults.

He served the Olympic movement well; in the "old school" fashion.
Without his determination, they might not have survived.
Only time will tell whether the more recent leaders have done better.

RIP.

[Lynn226]

Que descanse en paz, Sr. Samaranch.

[Maggie222]

Thanks for the link to the Christine Brennan article.

The Olympics would not be where they are in stature if not for Mr. Samaranch and there were certainly some great Olympics during his presidency.

My condolences to his family and those who worked with him. The Olympic torch has truly passed to the next generation.

Maggie

[Sedge]

Article in Toronto Star by Randy Starkman..with a different point of view..interesting

http://thestar.blogs.com/olympics/

April 21, 2010
Don't come looking for Samaranch tributes here

Closing quote

“So excuse me if I excuse myself as everyone rushes to credit Samaranch with among other things saving the Olympics from financial ruin when he took over in 1980.

They leave one thing out of the equation – the athletes. It is the sporting spectacle they provide that has put the Olympics on a firm financial footing, not any brilliance on Samaranch's part.”

[Maggie222]

Philip Hersh's comments:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...250,full.story

[CaptCrunch]

The only contribution Samaranch brought to the Olympic movement was corruption and greed. God he was such a jerk.

[skatesindreams]

What a horrible thing to say.
He is dead.
If you can't respect that, say nothing.

[CaptCrunch]

Please, pull your head out the sand.

Samaranch was a fascist at the highest level. He refused to let people call him by name instead he wanted to be called by "Your Excellency".

Under his reign corruption and greed ran wild finally coming to the forefront with the SLC bribery scandal.

Under his direction the IOC was all about me me me and how deep they could fill their own pockets at the expense of others.

He made it mandatory that in order to have the "priviledge of hosting the games" countries had to bid against each other causing some like Greece to eventually go into bankruptcy.

In an interview with Frank DeFord he said that the IOC was more important than the Catholic church!

He gave East German leaders the highest medal of honor despite the fact both he and the rest of his IOC cronies all knew they were a bunch of steroid mongers. Gave the same honor to that Romainian president who eventually got killed by his own people in a revolution.

If you want to know what Juan Antonio Samaranch was really like just go read the book, Lord of the Rings. What I've posted here is just the tip of the iceberg.