Don't come looking for Samaranch tributes here

[Alan in Montréal]

From the column:

The tributes to Juan Antonio Samaranch are arriving fast and furious with the passing of the former International Olympic Committee boss.

But there won't be any coming from this corner.

It's probably the cynicism that comes from nearly three decades of watching the IOC. You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger group of self-serving and self-interested individuals on the planet.

Read the whole thing here: http://thestar.blogs.com/olympics/2010/04/no-samaranch-tribute-from-this-corner.html

[baron-pierreIV]

I totally agree with that article. The improved fortunes of the IOC would've happened anyway regardless of who sat in that driver's seat because the Games had become global spectacle and the IOC has hordes of consultants advising them on how to think modern. So JAS just ahppened to be at the helm at the time.

But appointing your own son and namesake to a selective body of 115 members when there are probably 75 other individuals around the world equally deserving of a spot there...and to help balance the geographical wieghting of that body??? That's the height of nepotism and if didn't get called for that as others were for the bribery charges, then shame on the IOC. I'm surprised he didn't nominate his daughter and their housekeeper as well.

The one credit I'll give the old man is, even as early as the Games in his native Barcelona, he wanted to speed up the Parade of Athletes which bored him to death. Good fer you, JAS. For that, I can say, requiescat en pacem.

[Sir Rols]

I totally agree with that article. The improved fortunes of the IOC would've happened anyway regardless of who sat in that driver's seat because the Games had become global spectacle and the IOC has hordes of consultants advising them on how to think modern. So JAS just ahppened to be at the helm at the time.

You could say he happened to luck in at the right time, but he also grasped the opportunity and had the temperament to force through a lot of what needed to be done. The Olympics were crying out for new directions after Brundage stayed too long, and you could say the changes that needed to happen would have happened eventually anyway, but Killanin wasn't the man to do it. Like Brundage, JAS probably stayed too long, but in the 80s, his was the type of personality and forcefulness needed to kick-start the organisation back to respectability.

You know, I gotta give Rogge some props. Following in the footsteps of a giant can't be easy, and i probably expected him to be a milder, Killanin-style pres. But he certainly has been making a mark in his own right, and hasn't done so in an autocratic air like JAS.