Mumbai, March 13 -- IOC vice-president Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr smiles while talking about being involved with the apex sports body for over two decades and "exposed to this world as a child". So, for him running for its presidency in next week's election is a "privilege".
In this interview with HT, the Spaniard, son of the late Juan Antonio Samaranch, IOC president from 1980 to 2001, discusses India's universal appeal in the Olympic movement and its 2036 Games bid. Excerpts:
This issue became obvious a decade ago, that we were seeing a lack of interest or a lack of possibility by many territories and cities to organise the Games. We even found ourselves with only two candidates for the 2024 Games, but both very strong. The team back the...