Whether you're among those who loved and respected the "ends" he achieved or despised and questioned the "means" he used to achieve them, one thing is certain about Samaranch: he made his mark. He is one of the three most dominant Presidents in the history of the International Olympic Committee; on the podium alongside modern founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin -- he of Citius. Altius. Fortius. -- and Avery Brundage.
Without doubt, Samaranch will go down in history as the IOC President who oversaw the greatest period of growth in the history of the Olympic Games.
He took over the helm the year of the boycotted Moscow Games in 1980 and resigned in 2001 the year after the millennium Olympic Games in Sydney. At every level -- number of participating countries, number of athletes, number of events, volume of sponsors, volume of television revenues and hours and volume of media coverage -- the Samaranch Winter Games of Nagano 1998 and the Samaranch Summer Games of Sydney 2000 dwarfed pre-Samaranch Lake Placid 1980 and pre-Samaranch Moscow 1980.
Under his watch, the Olympics were transformed from being the exclusive domain of the world's best so-called amateur athletes to a showcase for the best of the best, including professionals in hockey and basketball. He oversaw exponential growth in sponsorship and television revenues. And by creating a two-year gap between the Summer Games and Winter Games beginning with Lillehammer 1994, his IOC raised
the profile of the Olympic brand through unprecedented levels of television, media and spectator interest in the years since.
Yet Samaranch was also President during the tit-for-tat boycott of Los Angeles 1984, during the emergence of the doping era of the Games and during the bidding scandal that led to Salt Lake City 2002. The vote-buying exposed a broken-down Olympic city selection process and a corrupt IOC. It exemplified the entitlement culture of the international sport system in general and Samaranch-style leadership in particular.
That will always be the cloud that hangs over the Samaranch IOC. It is also a case study in the downside of political power unchecked by term limits, accountability and proper succession planning.
It is because of Samaranch that the IOC now limits Presidential terms to eight and four for a total of 12 years. If Samaranch had not so brazenly pushed the envelope of his own Presidency well beyond Barcelona 1992 and beyond Atlanta 1996 -- ruling almost as if by personal decree -- he would not have been saddled with such a checkerboard legacy.
Juan Antonio Samaranch left an indelible personal mark on the Olympic movement. No question. He simply stayed too long.
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