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 IOC president Samaranch's wife dies
Sunday, September 17, 2000 By Stephen Wilson, The Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- After presiding over the splendor of the opening ceremony, Olympics head Juan Antonio Samaranch faced a personal tragedy: His gravely ill wife died yesterday while he was flying home to Spain to be with her.
Maria Teresa Salisachs-Rowe, 67 and reportedly suffering from cancer, died in Barcelona.
"She was not an IOC member, but she was a very close friend to all of us. She was like the first lady of the IOC," said Pal Schmitt, an International Olympic Committee member from Hungary who is the organization's head of protocol.
Close to tears, IOC vice president Anita DeFrantz said Samaranch knew in Sydney, where he was presiding over his last Olympics, that his wife was near death.
"She was a glorious woman. She was always exquisite," she said. "She was kind and generous."
Dick Pound, who as first vice president has temporarily taken over Samaranch's duties, said the Olympic flag would be lowered to half-staff from noon today to noon tomorrow at the Olympic Stadium, the three hotels where IOC officials are staying and IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
A Mass is scheduled tomorrow at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Sydney for Olympic officials and others.
"It is very sad indeed," Pound said. "The pressure he has been under in the past few months generally, and with this particular problem in the background, must be enormous."
Pound said a tradition in Spain is to have a quick burial with a Mass, followed by a service at a later date, which Pound guessed would be sometime after the Olympics. He said there wasn't enough time for other IOC officials to fly to Spain for the burial.
He said a condolence register would be placed at each of the three Olympic family hotels, and possibly at the Olympic Village.
In the village, a moment of silence was observed by the 199 national team mission chiefs at their morning briefing.
About 12 hours after presiding over his last Olympic opening ceremony and wishing the world "G'day," Samaranch abruptly left Sydney for Spain. He said he expected to return by next weekend, but that's uncertain.
"It's his decision," DeFrantz said. "He said at the executive board that he would come back, but I certainly wouldn't insist on it. What he did in opening the Games is just incredible."
Kevan Gosper, an IOC vice president from Australia, called Salisachs-Rowe "very popular, a wonderful mother, and a great partner. She had great style."
"He couldn't have been in a more distant place in the world when things were deteriorating," Gosper said.
Samaranch and his wife had two children, Maria Teresa and Juan Antonio.
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