Former International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch died in a hospital here on Wednesday at 89.

Samaranch was admitted to the Quiron Hospital in Barcelona on Sunday after experiencing heart trouble. The hospital said he died at 1:25 p.m. (1125 GMT).

"If there is a good way to die, I guess it was this way," Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. said. "He had a full life and career."

His body will be taken to the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona so that well wishers can pay their last respects on Thursday. IOC president Jacques Rogge will be among the dignitaries attending a special ceremony there.

File photo taken on July 13, 2001 shows Juan Antonio Samaranch, former president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announcing that Beijing, capital of China, won the right to host the 2008 Olympics during a meeting in Moscow, Russia. Juan Antonio Samaranch died at the age of 89 on April 21, 2010 in Barcelona after suffering from severe heart attack.

Samaranch, who was IOC chief between 1980-2001, is the man many believe is responsible for the Olympic Games as we know them today.

One of his last public appearances was on March 4 this year when was awarded Hispano-Chinese Foundation prize for his time as President of the Hispano-Chinese Forum, which he had led since November 2001.

IOC President Jacques Rogge hailed Samaranch's contribution to the Olympic movement, describing him as "a great man, a mentor and a friend who dedicated his long and fulfilled life to Olympism."

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