LAUSANNE / AIPS: Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr has found himself caught in a trap in his bid to secure the presidency of the International Olympic Committee which was once commanded by his father.

Samaranch is one of the favourites among the six men and one woman bidding for election last this month to succeed Thomas Bach as IOC supremo. But in a wide-ranging interview organised by the international sports journalists association AIPS he revealed the challenges of trying to establish his own independent identity.

He said: “In this campaign, I never thought I would have to defend myself from my last name, and I said that very clearly to my partners, to my fellow members and to the press that I am very proud of being the son of my father but I’m trying to keep that out of this race in every possible shape or form.

“With all the love, respect and pride that I have for my heritage, my last name and my father, the scenarios are different.

“My father joined the Olympic movement almost 60 years ago and left 25 years ago. None of the challenges that he – and the other people that had to save and reinvent the Olympic movement at that time – faced as well as the recipes they had to use to get along have any resemblance of the challenges or the recipes of today.

“So there’s no connection. There is nothing from there that can be applied today. But I feel a lot of pressure because I’m in a competition, trying to produce the best possible ideas and the best possible answers.”

Samaranch praised the 12-year reign of Bach but hinted an impatience with the increasingly centrist decision-making process. He said: “The administration of Thomas Bach has been extraordinary. With enormous pressure he had to delay the Games in Tokyo, we had the Winter Games in China in a bubble because of COVID, we had to overcome an institutional crisis of credibility because of doping at the Sochi Games, and we had other Games in Rio that had many difficulties of finance and organization.

“We can be very proud of where we are standing today but I think we have to restructure a little bit, more current in how we manage our sources  of income and have new sources of income. Most of all, I think that we should bring back to the IOC members the power to decide on things that are clear.”

Another priority Samaranch identified, should he be successful, is resolving the tensions existing around the World Anti-Doping Association.

He said: “Let’s be specific, the situation between the United States association and WADA has to be addressed. But I’m certain that the people running WADA and the people running USADA, despite their differences and exchanges, are fighting for the same objective. So it should be possible to bring together all the minds that are working towards that same objective in the same direction.

“Safe and internationally agreed upon set of rules on how to fight against cheats are absolutely necessary for the credibility of what we do.”

Samaranch also sought to reach out to an important IOC constituency in Africa. One of the noted failures of the IOC has been in not taking the Games there, now some 15 years after FIFA demonstrated it could stage a football World Cup in South Africa.

One problem is finding an appropriate climatic window which does not impact negatively on the international sportd calendar.

Samaranch said: “I try to talk all the time about universality and part of that is making sure no part of the world is excluded from the possibility of bringing the benefits of organizing the Olympic Games to their home communities.

“So the first thing that I have proposed is that we have to make sure that we when the bidding comes for future hosts, it will be done through a future host commission, and when we have projects that make sense and are possible to be done they will be taken through a process to the session for a vote.

“That vote will have to eliminate any constraints and any disadvantages due to, for example, climate that might affect a significant part of your continent. We will have to make sure that we are ready to modify the world sports calendar in the Olympic year if necessary.

“On a personal note, I really would like to see the Games eventually take place in Africa. It’s long overdue.”

Another challenge which will confront whoever succeeds to the presidency will be finding a credible place in the international sporting cycle for the Youth Olympic Games.

Samaranch acknowledged the issue in accepting a lack of publicity and a need “to make them useful.”  He said: “The media does not report on the Youth Olympic Games because there is no interest. So we have to find a good balance in keeping alive something which takes Olympism to countries that would not be able to dream about organising the big Games.”

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