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The President of the Republic met the Honorary President of the International Olympic Committee29.11.2003
 President Arnold Rüütel today at Kadriorg met the Honorary President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, and presented him with the 1st Class Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana.
At the presentation ceremony, the President of the Republic thanked Honorary President Samaranch for his contribution to modernization of sport and promotion of the Olympic movement. "Thanks to your efforts, the autonomy of the Olympic Games and the unity of the world of sport could be preserved also in those days when political confrontation in the world jeopardized the noble Olympic ideals," President Rüütel said presenting Juan Antonio Samaranch with the order.
Honorary President Samaranch thanked for the high decoration and told that the sport movement in Estonia, in his estimation, was advancing well, and wished Estonian athletes the best of luck and success in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. "In September 1991, the reinstatement of Estonia and the other Baltic States to the membership of International Olympic Committee didn't run smoothly at first, however, it was our duty," Juan Antonio Samaranch said.
Also Sergei Bubka, Member of the IOC Executive Board, as well as Mart Siimann and Jüri Tamm, respectively President and Vice-President of the Estonian Olympic Committee, attended the meeting.
Public Relations Unit of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, November 29, 2003
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