IOC HAS TO BE UNIVERSAL: SAMARANCH JR

Presidential candidate, 64, also proposes Olympics in winter for extreme heat nations

Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, a contender in the race to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has outlined his vision for the organisation, emphasising that the IOC should remain neutral in political matters.

Samaranch said it was not the IOC’s job to take sides in such issues.

“We cannot, unfortunately, generate peace. We cannot, unfortunately, make the wars stop. But we have, as our main goal, to demonstrate to the world that another way is possible,” Samaranch told Reuters in an interview on Sept 25.

“That means we cannot take sides and we have to maintain the unity of the movement in not taking sides in all the raging conflicts in the world.

“If we start taking part as an organisation, saying ‘this country’s human rights record I don’t like’ or ‘this other country is guilty in this war’, we will disappear and the Olympic Games will disappear with the good that it does.”

In a nod to the evolving global climate, Samaranch suggested that future Olympic Games could be held during the winter months, similar to how the 2022 football World Cup was hosted in Qatar.