European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen, 74, passes away after a stroke

European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen died after failing to recover from the stroke that he suffered in March. He was 74.

Hansen, born in May 1946, grew up in Bygdøy, a peninsula to the west of Oslo. He took part in many sports during his youth and at the age of 17 he formed an ice hockey club.

After graduating from university with a degree in mathematics, he qualified as a track and field referee and later became host of a sports programme at a local radio station. He also embarked on his sports administration career, starting out as a member of the Norwegian Athletics Federation Junior Committee between 1968 and 1972.

On the eve of the 1972 Bislett Games, the meeting organiser was injured by a stray javelin. Hansen, who by that point had made his mark as a referee, was asked to stand in, and he continued to work as an assistant to the organiser for several years.

It was around this same time that he turned to his other passion, stamp collecting, and he started his own stamp shop, SA Hansen SA.

During his time as meeting director, the Bislett Games was part of the IAAF Grand Prix, Golden Four, and the Golden League. He was also a member of the IAAF Grand Prix Commission from 1985 to 1998, a member of the IAAF Golden League working group from 1997 to 2009, and was president of the Norwegian Athletics Federation from 2003 to 2015.

After serving as president of EuroMeetings from 1998 to 2006, Hansen was elected vice president of European Athletics from 2007 to 2011 and was then elected president in 2015. He had been a World Athletics Council Member since 2015.

During his tenure as president of European Athletics, Hansen never shied away from new ideas. The 2018 European Championships in Berlin, meanwhile, was a resounding success.

“I dare say that everyone who attended our European Athletics Championships in Berlin, or experienced the event through the media, was aware that something very special was happening during those days,” he said last year. “Many, including me, have said that Berlin was simply European Athletics’ best event, ever.

“Perhaps we could even say that athletics has arrived at the start of the shining era I hope to reach,” he added. “We still have a lot of work in front of us and greater heights to scale, but I remain an optimist. We are the world’s best sport.”

The Malta Amateur Athletics Association paid tribute to Hansen. Expressing its sadness on receiving this news, the MAAA recalled on its Facebook page that the President of the European Athletics who visited Malta a number of times, most recently in 2018, made many of Malta’s international events possible. “Furthermore, he has promoted and empowered some of the smaller nations within Europe to the very best of his ability. For that, we shall remain eternally thankful. On behalf of our running community on our island we send our deepest condolences to his family and friends and to European Athletics, who he has led so admirably and progressively during his term in Office.”