Former IOC head Samaranch dies at 89
BARCELONA, Spain — Juan Antonio Samaranch, a reserved but shrewd dealmaker whose 21-year term as president of the International Olympic Committee was marked by both the unprecedented growth of the games and its biggest ethics scandal, died today at a hospital. He was 89.
Samaranch, a courtly former diplomat who served as Spanish ambassador in Moscow, led the IOC from 1980 to 2001. He was considered one of the defining presidents for building the IOC into a powerful global organization and firmly establishing the Olympics as a world force.
Samaranch was admitted to the Quiron Hospital in Barcelona on Sunday after experiencing heart trouble and died early Wednesday.
"I cannot find the words to express the distress of the Olympic family," IOC president Jacques Rogge said. "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."
