President of the International Olympic Committee that was held prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics – between 15 and 18 July 1980. He officially assumed presidency at the end of the Moscow Olympics. During his term, Samaranch managed to make the Olympic Movement financially healthy, with big television deals and sponsorships. Although the 1984 Summer Olympics were boycotted by the Eastern Bloc countries, the number of nations with a membership of the IOC and participating increased at every Games during his presidency. Samaranch also wanted the best athletes to compete in the Olympics, which led to the gradual acceptance of professional athletes. One achievement of Samaranch
LGBT athletes in the Olympic and Paralympic Games the 2010s, Olympic organizers have often included a Pride House facility for LGBT athletes. Alongside the Olympics, international multi-sport events have also been organized specifically for LGBT athletes, including the Gay Games and World OutGames. Since 2014 the International Olympic Committee has listed sexual orientation as a protected category in the Olympic charter. In the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, only 14 athletes out of the 10,708 participants were openly gay, lesbian or bisexual, including: Of them only two, including Matthew Mitcham (who also won a gold medal, making him the first openly gay Olympic champion), were male. Mitcham gained