Interviewed exclusively by insidethegames in Innsbruck, where he is attending the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games, Rogge confirmed that Raña would step down this year as an IOC member, saying: "Mario Vázquez is retiring at the end of 2012 as an IOC member."

But the IOC President said this did "not necessarily" mean he would also stand down as head of Olympic Solidarity, the IOC programme that distributes nearly $400 million (£230 million/€310 million) to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) around the world.

Asked to clarify if this meant that Raña, who will be 80 – the compulsory retirement age for an IOC member – on June 7, could stay on at Olympic Solidarity, Rogge replied: "That is definitely possible."

The IOC President went on: "He is still President of ANOC (the Association of National Olympic Committees) until 2015 and he is the sole candidate to my knowledge for the PASO (Pan American Sports Organisation) election in March 2012.

"So he could be re-elected, normally he should be re-elected until 2016 in the Pan American organisation.

"And he will organise the Pan American Games in 2015 in Toronto."

ANOC, the umbrella organisation of the world's NOCs, was founded in 1979 and under Raña has grown from 144 members to 205.

However, deep divisions emerged late last year in the relationship between Raña and Europe, with Patrick Hickey, President of the European Olympic Committees (EOC), using a speech to express his dissatisfaction at the Mexican's leadership of ANOC.

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