Fekrou Kidane, 87, African sports journalism pioneer and IOC Executive passes away

Fekrou Kidane blazed a trail for African sports journalists throughout his 50+ year career that included two decades of service to International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Juan Antonio Samaranch. Kidane died at his home in Paris October 10 at the age of 87. No cause of death is reported. Kidane is survived by a son and three grandchildren.

Kidane was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1935. Just 22 years later he would make his mark as the first live commentator for football matches on Ethiopian radio.

He founded the African Sport Journalists Union and followed a career that led him across the continent at a tumultuous time in Africa. He served as a member of his country’s contingent to U. N. peacekeeping forces in the Congo.

Fluent in French as well as English, Kidane worked for L’Equipe and other news sources around the world.

He also produced a monthly magazine Continental Sport, which followed news and politics on the international sports scene.

Kidane joined the staff of IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch in the 1980s and worked with him until both retired in 2001. He was chef de cabinet and director of international cooperation during that time.

Sylvie Espagnac, a writer for the IOC communications team worked with Kidane for 10 years and has known him for another 30 as a friend. She reminds that within the IOC Kidane was often called “the Kid” for his KID initials on documents at IOC headquarters. And she says he was driven by the motto “My sport is work”.

“You needed a lot of training, diligence, perseverance and multi-tasking skills to keep up with him,” Espagnac tells ATR.

His staff included six women, a sign of confidence ahead of its time. A “Dream Team” is how Espagnac described the group that still includes two of its members on the IOC staff, herself and Katia Mascagni.

“For all of us, his confidence in a team of women (a precursor of equality at the IOC) to carry out innovative projects from design to delivery, empowering and guiding them with his advice, is another element that made our Dream Team a reality. It provided us with experiences that were enriching, both professionally and personally, and helped us to acquire new knowledge in multiple fields, and for Katia and me, to still place them at the service of the IOC to this day.

“Fékrou helped us to become the professionals we are today, to believe in ourselves. An Amharic word that he shared with us perfectly expresses the mindset that always drove him forward: “Yichallal!” – which means “anything is possible, and it can be done”, says Espagnac.

Michael Payne, who was IOC marketing director during Kidane’s tenure, tells Around the Rings that his former colleague used his links to the U.N. on behalf of the IOC.

“Fekrou really pioneered the IOC’s partnership with the UN. A true gentlemen and diplomat who left an important legacy to the Olympic Movement, that few realized. Always worked quietly behind the scenes, whose advice was always trusted,” Payne says.

Kidane squired himself in Lausanne, Switzerland for years in the same fifth floor suite at the modest Continental Hotel overlooking the city’s train station. The hotel’s discounted rate for journalists made it a favorite place to stay for the media travelling to cover IOC events. And that proximity made it possible to join Kidane for casual chats over morning coffee and his first cigarettes of the day in the now-gone sidewalk cafe. Often a handful of journalists crowded into his bohemian quarters in the evening for bottles of wine, jazz on the stereo and good conversation.

Kidane amassed a collection of pins and other insignia from his travels. All of it he left to the hotel which has it on display in the hallways of the meeting room level.

Giannis Gerassimidis was manager of the Continental while Kidane lived there.

“Fekrou was the most humane and positive person. And I learned a lot from him,” says the now retired hotelier.

Tomas Ganda Sithole, a former IOC staff member and journalist in Zimbabwe took to Facebook to pay tribute to his near lifelong friend. The lengthy and colorful tribute is a great read beyond these excerpts.

“I met this man in 1970 in Dar es Salaam, he an accomplished sports writer and broadcaster, me a struggling refugee faraway from home trying my hand at sports journalism. I went to the Kilimanjaro Hotel to meet the Ethiopian national football team and instead ran into (then) chain-smoking Fekrou who asked me: “You are from Rhodesia, right?” To which I replied in the affirmative.

“You write basketball very well,” he said. “What are you doing talking to a football team?” And without letting me get in a word in edgeways, he went on to critique African sports journalists for “all wanting to be football writers.” Football may be the most popular sport in Africa but it was not the only sport played and enjoyed by Africans. “Write about other sports, cricket, rugby, about women in netball, hockey”, Ganda remembers about the career advice.

“Rest in Power, Cool Guy. You ran your race well,” he says about his friend, the friend of many.

A ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Oct. 20 at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.