FACTBOX: Who is Juan Antonio Samaranch?

(Reuters) - Juan Antonio Samaranch, 87, has been strongly criticized by outgoing World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Dick Pound for his stance on doping while in charge of the International Olympic Committee.

Here are some details about Samaranch.

* 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 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.

* PRESIDENT OF THE IOC:

-- At the start of his presidency, he steered the Olympic movement through two successive political boycotts, a U.S.-led western boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics followed by an eastern bloc retaliation in 1984 at Los Angeles, both of which could have destroyed the Games.

-- The Los Angeles Games however were 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 as corporate sponsors queued to join the party and the price of television rights soared.

* DRUGS SCANDALS:

-- There were however persistent allegations of drugs cover-ups.

-- The Ben Johnson drugs scandal, when the Canadian sprinter tested positive after winning the 1988 Seoul Olympic 100 meters final, shocked the world. A subsequent Canadian government inquiry found evidence that doping was widespread in athletics.

-- In 1994 Samaranch declared: "Chinese sport is very clean", on the eve of the Asian Games. Just weeks later, it was revealed 400 meters freestyle champion Yang Aihua tested positive for drugs followed by a further 10 Chinese athletes.

-- A series of high-profile drug busts prompted the IOC to call a special anti-doping conference in early 1999.

* BRIBERY: