EARLY LIFE:

Born in Barcelona on July 17, 1920, Samaranch pursued a career in sports politics in former dictator General Francisco Franco's fascist Spain.

He was Spanish chef de mission at three Olympic Games before winning a place on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1966.

After Franco's death, Samaranch was appointed as ambassador to the Soviet Union where important contacts among Third World sports officials helped him succeed Lord Killanin as IOC president in 1980.

IOC PRESIDENT:

At the start of his presidency, he steered the Olympic movement through two successive political boycotts; a US-led Western boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics followed by an Eastern Bloc retaliation in 1984 at Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Games were, however, a financial success and represented a clear break with the past with its focal sport of athletics now fully professional.

The 1992 Barcelona Games, held in Samaranch's birthplace, were a stunning success with burgeoning interest from corporate sponsors and a huge increase in the cost of television rights.

DOPING AND BRIBERY

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics the Ben Johnson drugs scandal broke when the Canadian sprinter tested positive after winning the 100 metres final. A subsequent Canadian government inquiry found evidence that doping was widespread in athletics.

A series of high-profile drug busts prompted the IOC to call a special anti-doping conference in early 1999 and the establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

In 1998 it was revealed that some IOC members had been bribed to award the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City.

WADA's first president Dick Pound said that Samaranch was never an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against drugs.

LEGACY

In July 2001, after 21 years in the role, he was succeeded as IOC president by Jacques Rogge.

Samaranch was made the IOC's honorary life president in 2001.

His son Juan Antonio Jr. is a member of the IOC.