MADRID, 29 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The former president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), a great promoter of the ADO Plan and former Minister of Commerce and Tourism, Javier Gómez Navarro, died this Thursday at the age of 78 due to cancer, according to sources close to the former president of the CSD.
Gómez Navarro was president of the Higher Council of Sports from January 9, 1987 to July 20, 1993, being fundamental in the organization of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, for which he assumed governmental responsibility.
During his tenure as Secretary of State for Sport, Gómez Navarro was the driving force behind the ADO program, through which private sponsoring companies partnered with athletes and Olympic federations to finance their participation in the Olympic Games.
Under his leadership, Spain also achieved its best ever Olympic result with 22 medals won in Barcelona 92, 13 of them gold, seven silver and two bronze.
Gómez Navarro achieved one of the greatest achievements of his time at the head of the CSD by getting the football clubs converted into public limited companies, a measure promoted to end the debt generated by them. In addition, he undertook the reform of the Sports Law in 1990.
In July 1993, Gómez Navarro would leave his position as president of the Higher Sports Council to join the Government of Felipe González, assuming the portfolio of the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism until 1996, approving the new Trade Law of 1996.
After his time in politics, he chaired the MBD company, which is dedicated to business consultancy, from 1998. In 2005 he was appointed president of the company Aldeasa, and was president of the Higher Council of Chambers of Commerce between 2005 and 2014.