In some of the numerous and improvised meetings and discussion groups that were organised during the 63rd session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held in Madrid, José Antonio Elola-Olaso, the national delegate of Physical Education and Sport (National Sports Delegation, DND) and President of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), tried to sound out the maximum representatives of the Olympic movement about the hopes for success of a Spanish Olympic candidature. The city hosted the IOC Annual Assembly during the first week of October and the Francoist propaganda machine took advantage of the event to advertise as much as possible everything that the political authorities considered to be diplomatic success and which could help improve the weakened country’s international image. The Spain of developmentalism welcomed the members of the IOC while they dreamed of how hosting the Olympic Games would help the country’s integration within the European context.
