Chinese version of Samaranch biography launched in Beijing
CGTN
["china"]
The Chinese version of a biography about former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch has been released at Beijing's Palace Museum, or the Forbidden City, on Friday, coinciding with the 1,000-day countdown to the opening of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
The biography titled "President Samaranch: 21 Years of the IOC Presidency that Changed Sport" is written by journalists Pedro Palacios, Edgar Mont-Roig and Juan Manuel Surroca and edited together by the Samaranch Foundation. 
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., vice president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), addresses the launching ceremony of the book "President Samaranch" in Beijing, capital of China, May 10, 2019. /Xinhua Photo

Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., vice president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), addresses the launching ceremony of the book "President Samaranch" in Beijing, capital of China, May 10, 2019. /Xinhua Photo

IOC vice president and son of the honoree Juan Antonio Samaranch said at the ceremony that "through this book we keep the memory of Samaranch alive."
Samaranch, a former Spanish diplomat, presided over the IOC for 21 years from 1980-2001 and is credited with launching the TOP sponsor program that revitalized the organization.
Samaranch's achievement also includes bringing the 2008 Summer Olympic Games to Beijing before stepping down in July 2001. He is arguably the most famous foreigner in China for awarding the world's most premier sporting event to the world's most populous country for the first time.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency