The Spaniard, who was made the IOC's Honorary Life President when he stepped down in 2001, is on a respirator and undergoing an intensive programme of drug treatment, Rafael Esteban, director of internal medicine at the Quiron hospital, said at a news conference.

"At his age and with the chronic disruptions he is suffering we cannot be optimistic," Esteban said, adding that doctors had feared for Samaranch's life since his admission on Sunday.

"We cannot, at the moment, make any favourable prognosis.

"At the moment he is being helped to breathe and under intense pharmacological care in the ICU.

"The next few hours will be decisive in knowing if there are chances of him recovering given that his condition is very critical.

"We can't be optimistic because of the acute condition and the advanced age of the patient.

"At the moment he is stable, but the risk is high during the first 48 hours.

"We fear for his life."

His son Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, currently a member of the IOC, told Spanish media earlier that his father was in hospital to treat cardiac problems.

"His condition is delicate," one of Samaranch's secretaries told the German Press Agency dpa.

"He is undergoing tests."

Samaranch has suffered a number of health problems since his retirement and has been admitted to hospital several times.

At last October's  IOC Session in Copenhagen, where the host city for the 2016 Olympics was chosen, he made an emotional appeal to members to grant him a last favour and choose Madrid but Rio de Janeiro was picked.

"I know that I am very near the end of my time," Samaranch said during Madrid's final presentation.

He stepped down in July 2001, 21 years after he had been elected as the IOC's seventh President, and was made Life President when he handed power to Belgian Jacques Rogge.

Shortly after, he spent 10 days in hospital in Lausanne and then two weeks in a clinic in Barcelona because of fatigue.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]