Former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, 89, has been hospitalized in Barcelona for suffering severe heart trouble and his prognosis is "very bad", a hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

Quiron Hospital doctor Rafael Esteban Mur speaks at a news briefing on Samaranch's condition, in Barcelona, Spain, April 20, 2010. Former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, 89, has been "suffering from acute coronary insufficiency and his prognosis is very bad," a spokesman for Barcelona's Quiron Hospital said on Tuesday. [Xinhua/Miguel Berasategui]

Samaranch was head of the IOC from 1980 to 2001. Only Pierre de Coubertin, the "father" of the modern Olympics and IOC chief from 1896 to 1925, has held the post longer.

He has been hospitalized several times in recent years, most recently in Monoco in 2009 after he fainted.

Samaranch was hospitalized for "extreme fatigue" in Switzerland in 2001 shortly after he stepped down as IOC head and in Barcelona in 2007 for high blood pressure. He has also received dialysis treatment for kidney trouble.

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