IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch was interviewed
during TNT's daytime coverage by Donna de Varona.
Samaranch said organizers in Salt Lake are "progressing very
well." He said Salt Lake's success would be aided by the
success of the U.S. teams and that he is "pushing" SLOC
officials to work with the USOC to establish a "special
program ... to prepare their team for the participation in
Salt Lake City." Asked about the criticism of the over-
commercialization of the Atlanta Games, Samaranch said,
"They were exceptional games, really they were wonderful
games. There were a record [number] of spectators, events
and all was very well. We had some minor problems. But the
commercialization was in the streets, and the streets belong
to the city, not the Olympic movement." Samaranch, on his
reign: "What we've done in the last years, is to put the
boat of the Olympic movement in favor of the wind. Because
sometimes in the past, they were putting always the boat
against it. ... We are changing many things. Why? Because
our world is changing also." Afterward, TNT's Jim Lampley
said, "In his own way, he personally brought an end to the
cold war in sports. For better and/or for worse, and I
think most on balance would say for better, his impact on
these Games is huge and indelible" (TNT, 2/12).