Former socialist minister Javier Gómez-Navarro died on Thursday at the age of 78, as confirmed by the Spanish Olympic Committee and the High Council of Sports. Gómez-Navarro was a key figure for Spanish sport in the 1990s, particularly relevant in the celebration of the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. He was also responsible for the Sports Law that transformed football and basketball clubs into public limited companies in the early 1990s.
Gómez-Navarro was born in Madrid on 13 October 1945. He studied Industrial Engineering and developed his career in different areas within Spanish politics, sport and tourism. He was responsible for promoting the creation of the International Tourism Fair (Fitur) in 1980, of which he was technical secretary until 1983.
After this, Gómez-Navarro chaired Viajes Marsans until 1987, when he was appointed by Felipe González as Secretary of State for Sport and President of the Higher Council of Sports, a position from which he drew up the Sports Law of 1989 and promoted the ADO Plan to finance the preparation of Olympic athletes, key in the 1992 Olympics. Under his management, the National Commission against Violence in Sport and the National Anti-Doping Commission were created, five new INEFs were born and the MEC Plan was launched for the construction of sports facilities in schools.
The former minister was vice-president of the Organising Committee for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, playing “an important role in this event”, the COE points out. In July 1993, President Felipe González appointed him Minister of Commerce and Tourism, the new Ministry that emerged from the division of the Ministry of Industry into two. During this period, the Trade Law was approved and tourism activity was promoted, which achieved two of its best seasons in 1994 and 1995. Two days after the general elections in March 1996, he resigned from his post and was replaced by Rodrigo Rato, who, at the head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, absorbed the powers of Tourism and Commerce. Between 2005 and 2014, he chaired the Higher Council of Chambers of Commerce. He was a socialist activist until 1977, the year in which he left the PSOE.
The Spanish Olympic Committee has mourned the death of Gómez-Navarro and has expressed in a statement its “deepest condolences to his family, closest friends and to all of Spanish sport, which is in mourning today.” The High Council of Sport has expressed its condolences along the same lines, and has considered Gómez-Navarro “a key figure in the development of Spanish sport.” “Our most sincere condolences to his family and friends in this difficult time,” reads the message. On the same social network, the current Minister of Sport, Pilar Alegría, has highlighted that Gómez-Navarro was “the great promoter of the transformation that Spanish sport experienced in the late 80s and early 90s.”
Javier Gómez Navarro was the great driving force behind the transformation that Spanish sport experienced in the late 80s and early 90s.
A period remembered for the approval of the Sports Law and the organisation of the Barcelona Games.
A hug to your family. https://t.co/Y65YplP2qm
— Pilar Alegria (@Pilar_Alegria) August 29, 2024
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