Announcing that the Olympic flag at IOC headquarters in Lausanne would be flown at half-mast in his honour, Thomas Bach, IOC President, said that the Movement would "always remember" the newspaper magnate and former shooting athlete as "a great Olympic leader".

Vázquez Raña, Bach went on, "dedicated a great part of his life to Olympic sport...He had outstanding merit within the Olympic Movement."

Paying his respects in person to the Vázquez Raña family at a Mexico funeral parlour, Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico's President, said the country was "today lamenting the loss of a great Mexican who worked for Mexico and dedicated most of his strength with affection and love to Mexico in various fields."

Larry Probst, chairman of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), said Vázquez Raña "served the Olympic Movement for the majority of his adult life and advanced Olympic sport in the Western Hemisphere like few before him.

"As leaders of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), it is our responsibility to build upon Mario's legacy and to provide our full support to the athletes of the Americas."

Mario Vázquez Raña's death is set to trigger a leadership struggle for the President's role at the Pan American Sports Organization ©Getty Images

Michael Fennell, President of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), described Vázquez Raña as a "really outstanding and exceptional leader in the Americas".

His greatest legacy, he said, was the building of the Pan American Games and the Pan American Games Movement, as well as the development of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), which the Mexican headed for 33 years until March 2012.

"He took a fledgling organisation and built it to a large extent with his own resources," Fennell said.

Marcel Aubut, President of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), described Vázquez Raña as "a legendary leader, a dear friend and an esteemed colleague".

He added: "His passion for sport was boundless and his outstanding leadership as President of PASO since 1975 inspired us all to strive for the betterment of sport around the world."

The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) said that Vázquez Raña had left "a strong, dynamic and vibrant legacy - one that PASO and its member countries will be able to build on in a positive way...

"Whatever differences of opinion there may have been during his long and illustrious tenure, were a reflection of his honesty, integrity, passion, enthusiasm and commitment for the Olympic Movement."

Mario Vázquez Raña will rank as one of the most influential administrators in the Olympic Movement ©Getty Images

As the IOC President also observed, Vázquez Raña served as President of PASO "even until his last moments".

His passing therefore poses an immediate question as to the future direction of this organisation, with just five months to go before the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games in Toronto.

In his capacity as first vice-president, Ivar Sisniega, another Mexican, is set to take up the reins and could in theory remain in situ until 2016, when Vázquez Raña's final term would normally have ended.

This, however, is an organisation that has been controlled by one man for 40 years.

It would be no surprise, once Toronto 2015 has been duly delivered, if pressure for a leadership contest in the latter part of this year did not become irresistible.

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