In society

Samararanch: Changing the current

April 22, 2010 Anton Orech

There is a lie for salvation. And sometimes betrayal for salvation. The late Juan Antonio Samararanch betrayed the Olympic movement, but thereby saved him.

I consider the Marquis of Samararanch one of the most outstanding people of the past century, and in the field of sports this figure is comparable to Baron de Cuberten. But if suddenly it happened that the baron was able to get acquainted with the Marquis, I am not sure that this acquaintance would have a great pleasure to Baron.

Samararanch is a great diplomat! The ingenious manager! The greatness of such people is not to flow in the line of time, but to change the flow of time. Samaranch was remarkable for really looking at things. Occupying one of the most romantic posts in the world, he was extremely pragmatic. It was Pragmatism that pushed him to “betrayal”. Samararanch violated two of the most important Olympic ideal: love and unrequesting. He was recalled more than once and will remember this, say that the spirit of the holiday has left the Olympic Games, the same romance has gone that money and commerce came to the fore. But this did not happen through the fault of Samaranch. Kuberten's ideals - they were ideals, utopia. Even in Kuberten times, not everyone followed them.

Samararanch entered the post of President of the IOC during the Moscow Olympics, and by that time amateur sport actually died. He was on paper, but it did not exist in real life. There were athletes of the Soviet Union and other socialists who were formally listed as students and workers, but who did not study and did not work anywhere, but only trained and protruding year -round - for money. But Western athletes were not any amateurs. Samaranch simply stated the obvious, openly said that everyone knew, but that everyone was bypassed from the dramatic reasons, and even covered with the mythical ideals of Olympism. And Samararanch, firstly, acted honestly, and secondly, turned the games into what they are-into the competition of absolutely the best athletes of the world, regardless of their formal status. And for a quarter of a century there are no “lovers” and “professionals”.

Opening the Olympics for all athletes, Samararanch opened them for a big business. Sport is a favorite sight of mankind. Olympic rings are the most recognizable symbol on the planet. Olympic broadcasts are the most profitable, and Olympic advertising is the most expensive. This is natural! If the spectacle has such a demand, it should bring adequate profit. This is not idealistic, but it, again, is honest. It is impossible to believe, but the Olympics were completely unprofitable to the Samararanch, to find those who wanted to conduct a serious problem. Moscow received games-80 in many ways due to the fact that there were no other worthy applicants. The IOC was a poor organization in which the elderly hereditary aristocrats met. Samararanch turned it into a corporation that functions according to the laws of business. Moreover, it is functioning. Because Samararanch was the first actually working president of the IOC to move to the headquarters and appeared every day in the office. Or on the way. There was only one person who traveled in his “possessions” equally often - John Paul II. Samararanch visited almost all countries - MOK members. And these countries, thanks to him, are now more in the IOC than to the UN! Many of these countries in the world are known only because their athletes take place at the parade of opening games in front of a couple of billions of people. And by the way, such countries fall into the Olympics only thanks to the financial assistance of the IOC. And, say, the Paralympic Games became a full part of the Olympics precisely under Samararanch.

And observing these grandiose paintings, we will not forget that Samararanch began his presidency between two boycotts-the boycott of the Moscow Olympiad and Los Angeles. In addition to financial collapse, the Olympic movement was threatened with a political collapse. And in 1988, Games in Seoul, with which the Warsaw Blok countries had no diplomatic relations. Now it’s easy to speak, but at the same time it was still completely uncommon where the changes in the USSR would lead, whether they were for a long time, whether they were serious. The threat of another boycott was quite real. Moreover, just at that time, Samararanch headed for admission to the games of professional athletes, as well as to cooperate with transnational companies and television giants. The fact that the Soviet Union at the same time went to Seoul, and with it all the Soviet allies are the undoubted victory of Samararanch. As, by the way, the return to the world sport of China, which has long been in voluntary isolation.

I do not want to say that the deceased Marquis was now some kind of holy and impeccable. Yes, this is impossible at such a post. But the fact that he changed the face of modern sports gave the sport real world significance is quite obvious. And the greatness of the great consists, I emphasize once again, not to go with the flow, but to change the current.

Photo by RIA Novosti