World
Former IOC president Samaranch taken to hospital
Source: Xinhua | 12-20-2007 07:42
Special Report: 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
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Spanish national radio has said that former International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch, seen here in June 2007.(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown)
MADRID, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch fainted at a conference in Madrid and was taken to hospital on Wednesday.
A statement made by Madrid's Clinico San Carlos said that the 87-year-old Samaranch had cardio-vascular problems.
Local media quoted head of Spain's Olympic committee, AlejandroBlanco, as saying Samaranch had felt unwell during a conference in the Spanish capital.
"It is nothing serious," Blanco said. "Everything will be back to normal. The situation is under control. "
Samaranch was head of the IOC from 1980 to 2001. Recently, he has been pushing Madrid's bid to host the Olympics in 2016.
On July 17, 2001, his 81st birthday, he was hospitalised in Lausanne, Switzerland for "extreme fatigue." He was hospitalised again in Barcelona a month later for arterial hypertension due to the effort of organising the IOC Congress in Moscow.
Editor:Zhang Pengfei
