Juan Antonio Samaranch: “The future of the Olympic movement needs an extraordinarily rapid evolution”
LAUSANNE, March 4, 2025 – Twenty-four years after joining the International Olympic Committee and serving in various capacities under two leaders, Juan Antonio Samaranch, believes he has gathered enough experience to help the world’s most powerful sports organisation adapt to the rapidly changing society.
“I've had the privilege of being part of the Olympic movement for a long time. I've been an IOC member for 24 years, and I have been able to participate in this extraordinary life experience, together with so many interesting people. At this moment in my life where I have a long experience in managing and dealing with all the things that the Olympic movement has to deal with every day, and also have a very strong professional experience in the world of business and finance, I think that I have the energy, the stamina, the willingness to do it. And with the combination of my experiences, it’s time to try to to contribute my views and my ideas for the future of the Olympic movement. It has been a great opportunity, a great privilege, to be part of this race and I do that with a lot of enthusiasm,” the IOC vice president replied to AIPS President Gianni Merlo’s question on why he decided to run for president.
Samaranch is the longest-serving member among the candidates vying to be the 10th IOC president on 20 March in Greece. The 65-year-old renowned banker and businessman is the son of Juan Antonio Samaranch (1920-2010), who served as the 7th president of the IOC from 1980 to 2001.
On Tuesday, 4 March, Samaranch was the special guest on “Let’s Talk to the IOC Presidential Candidates”, a series of Q&A sessions that offers a unique platform for the candidates to communicate their vision for the Olympic movement to sports journalists from different parts of the world.
During the session, moderator Gianni Merlo gave the opportunity to ask a question to a journalist from Kazakhstan Zarina Kozova.
Zarina Kozova from Kazakhstan: How would you work with National Olympic Committees to improve the training conditions for athletes in different countries?
Of course, as a candidate, I would like to say, I'm going to change everything. But this is something that is pretty much working. Of course, we have to get more resources to do it, but we have the funding of the Olympic Games that goes to the National Olympic Committees and the International Federations, and that is how it works. We have Olympic solidarity programme that has been increased by 10% for the next quadrennial. It's almost $700 million that will be distributed in the next quadrennial and that will give extraordinary help to NOCs and IFs. It's something that is working. More can be done, of course, but that depends on the financing, hence the more revenue we can generate through the Olympic Games to distribute to the bottom of the pyramid, the better. More money will be there for the youth preparing to be the next generation of Olympians.
AIPS Media Kazakhstan
