Juan Antonio Samaranch was, as was Gorbachev or Den Xiao Ping, was a great opener of hermetically sealed regimes in times that were very difficult for freedom; a visionary in practice of concord who spent half of his life aboard an aeroplane in order to open up autocracies to the world by using the universal and magical key of Olympic sport. The history of diplomacy will explain how Samaranch and other pioneers of globalisation challenged the perverse logic of blocks and made bridges in sporting understanding in relations of power where, up until he became President of the Olympic Committee (COI) only took into account the logic of nuclear dissuasion and the cold war.

Also, economic research has a pending debt with Juan Antonio Samaranch: up to his arrival in the highest spheres of decision in international sport it was considered that sporting activities were a secondary and subsidiary activity relative to the Economy. At best, sport was considered a mere form of relaxation and maybe even a healthy activity. For serious economists this was a mere residual sector where it was possible in a totally lax manner, to assign part of the added values that could be generated by the economic cycle.

But the Samaranch era in the COI and as from the Olympic Games in Moscow and up to the presidency of la Caixa also demonstrated that sport was not the receiver of idle income but that it was in itself an authentic and powerful generator of riches. This is the reason why the Real Academia included him among its members in 1995 as an Honorary Member and why the economists of sport meeting at EMOS seminar on Sports Economy held last October decided to name him Honorary President. Samaranch demonstrated that sporting activity could become the motor of economic growth as it was not only in Barcelona but also in each one of the Olympiads that he organised as President of the COI. Particularly in Moscow and Peking.

Several of the presentations made at this Seminar have left a record of the conceptual leap which has made sport to be considered today as a productive investment and we refer not only to the mere monetary balance sheet of assets and liabilities in the organisation of any sporting event but also to the normalising role of conviviality and a soothing balm to social and political tensions which Samaranch was so good and skilful at handling. Today we all agree that the balance sheet of any sporting event is measured not only by medals but also by the economic impact, that is to say in millions and sometimes in billions of dollars.

Economic research has authentically demonstrated how the Olympic Games, not only of Moscow or Peking but also those that were held in countries that have a full market economy, created a major economic boost that was far above mere numbers and attained a positive impact that accelerated a diplomatic, political and later economic opening up of the Olympic countries. The experience of Barcelona 92 and the conversion of our Mediterranean and Spanish capital into an authentic universal cosmopolis today continues to be the best example of what is owed not only by Spanish sport but also the economy and economic and sporting research to Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Thank you, Juan Antonio.