Barcelona pays tribute to Samaranch by reopening the debate on whether he should have a street

Barcelona16 years after his death, Barcelona will pay tribute this Tuesday to Juan Antonio Samaranch, the Barcelonian who held the most power in world sport. A figure who changed Olympism from top to bottom and was key in bringing the 1992 Olympic Games to a city with which he always maintained a strange relationship. Loved by many and criticized by others, especially for his Francoist militancy, Samaranch became president of the International Olympic Committee in 1980, initiating the task of modernizing the Olympic movement to which he dedicated his whole life.

ran for election to be president of the IOC in 2025ran for president of the IOC in 2025, being defeated by Kirsty Coventy.

The event comes at a time when those who knew him are reviving the proposal to dedicate a street to him in Barcelona. The Barcelona City Council dismissed doing so in 2014 due to the social disagreement the initiative caused. The Barcelona City Council had initiated the procedures in 2012 for Avinguda de l'Estadi, where the Olympic stadium of Montjuïc is located, to be renamed Samaranch, at the proposal of the PP municipal group. Currently, the Barcelona Olympic and Sports Museum bears the name of Samaranch, who also gives his name to the study center linked to this museum. In 2016, with Ada Colau as mayor, a plaque bearing Samaranch's name was removed from the City Council, in another case that caused considerable uproar. It is a sculpture by the artist Joan Mora that represents a sports bag and a torch with the Olympic rings, was donated to the city by Samaranch. The inscription commemorating who had donated it was removed in 2016, but Collboni reinstated it two years ago. In recent months, people close to Samaranch have been talking with the City Council in an attempt to have the figure of the IOC president vindicated by his city, which has led to this Tuesday's tribute.

A figure with different faces

Born in 1920 in Bailén street, Barcelona, Samaranch was president of the International Olympic Committee between 1980 and 2001, being the second president to hold the position for the longest time, only behind Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who held it between 1896 and 1925. Son of a wealthy family owning a textile company, Samaranch would hide at the start of the war to avoid being recruited, moving from the Republican side to the Nationalist side at the end of the war. A sports enthusiast, he practiced boxing and especially roller hockey, a discipline in which he would be a player and Spanish selector. He actively participated in the organization of two Roller Hockey World Championships, which opened the door for him to hold positions within Francoist sport. After a brief period as a sports journalist, he entered the world of politics, holding many positions in Spain while joining the International Olympic Committee in 1960. With the arrival of democracy, he had to leave Barcelona, where an attempt to create a centrist party of his failed, being chosen first as Spanish ambassador to the Soviet Union. During his 21 years in office, Samaranch increased the offer of Olympic sports, doubled female presence at the Games, promoted the fight against doping, managed to multiply revenues thanks to television rights and merchandising, gave greater relevance to the Paralympic Games, and fostered the Special Olympics for people with intellectual disabilities, but he did not manage to avoid cases of corruption such as the one that would mark his downfall in 2011.