Former IOC President Samaranch Passes Away

Former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch has died after being taken ill with severe heart problems.

The Spaniard was widely regarded as the most powerful man in sport when he headed the IOC from 1980 to 2001.

An astute figure on the global stage, he oversaw the commercialisation of the Olympics as athletes were finally allowed to embrace professionalism.

Only Pierre de Coubertin, the ‘father’ of the modern Olympics and IOC chief from 1896 to 1925, held the post for a longer period.

Samaranch, the IOC’s honorary life president, was admitted to Barcelona’s Quiron Hospital earlier this week.

Current IOC president Jacques Rogge paid tribute to his predecessor, saying: ‘I cannot find the words to express the distress of the Olympic Family.

‘I am personally deeply saddened by the death of the man who built up the Olympic Games of the modern era, a man who inspired me, and whose knowledge of sport was truly exceptional.

‘Thanks to his extraordinary vision and talent, Samaranch was the architect of a strong and unified Olympic Movement. I can only pay tribute to his tremendous achievements and legacy, and praise his genuine devotion to the Olympic Movement and its values. We have lost a great man, a mentor and a friend who dedicated his long and fulfilled life to Olympism.’

Samaranch has suffered several health problems in recent years. He spent 11 days in hospital in Switzerland with fatigue in 2001 after returning from an IOC session in Moscow, where Rogge was elected as his successor.

Samaranch was also treated in a Monaco hospital in September because of a slight reaction to fatigue, and spent two days in a hospital in Madrid in 2007 with high blood pressure. He has also received dialysis treatment for kidney trouble.

In recent years, he was a key part of Madrid’s failed bids to host the Olympics in 2012, which London eventually won, and 2016, which went to Rio de Janeiro.