Juan Antonio Samaranch, spanish sports official, president of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001 passed away at the age of 89.
London 2012 Organising Committee Chair Seb Coe said: 'I have lost a friend, one who moulded my path through sport from my early 20s, and the world has lost an inspirational man. A man who challenged us all to fight for sport, its primacy and autonomy, a fight he led fearlessly from the front creating an extraordinary sporting movement that reaches millions of people around the world. He was quite simply the most intuitive leader I have ever met.'
