The IOC President, Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch, calling on the cabinet
chairman, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba |
Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch was born in 1920 in Barcelona.
During his illustrations career he served as the Spanish ambassador to the
USSR, was elected as vice president of the Spanish Olympic Committee from
1955-1970 and entered the IOC in 1966.
In 1980 he was appointed the IOC president and was conferred the title
of Marques de Samaranch by His Majesty Juan Carlos, King of Spain in 1991. |
Sports was an important aspect of life which had to be
promoted and encouraged, according to the President of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch who was in the country
this week.
Mr. Samaranch's visit to Bhutan is a fulfillment of a "promise"
made during his tenure as IOC president to visit all the Olympic
countries.
Accompanied by a five member IOC delegation, Mr. Samaranch visited various
sports facilities in the capital where he saw the Bhutanese archers and
takewondo fighters practice. Mr. Samaranch also met with senior government
officials.
Speaking to Kuensel, Mr. Samaranch said that he was "pleased" to
see the good relations between the national Olympic committee and the
government. "The national committee will get assistance from the
international Olympic committee but it is very important that the national
Olympic committees gets the support of the government," he said.
He added that Bhutan's participation at the Sydney games were welcomed and
he hoped to see an even stronger team at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
"The Bhutanese archers are good-they have a good training programme
and trainers and so do the taekwondo teams," he said. "We hope
they get very good results." |
Describing his 20 years as the IOC President, Mr. Samaranch
said that there had been many changes in the last two decades however, the
200 national Olympic committees and the Olympic movement had continued to
remain united.
"Our aim has always been to promote friendship and peace," he
said adding that the Olympic movement also aimed at elevating the position
of women in sports on par with the men, preserving the environment and
awarding scholarships to countries like Bhutan to encourage their
participation in the Olympics.
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