The Ethiopian died at his home in Paris last Monday (October 10).

Kidané joined the IOC in 1990, first as an advisor for matters related to developing countries and apartheid in sport.

After the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992, he was appointed IOC Director of the Executive Office of the President Juan Antonio Samaranch and the Department of International Cooperation, a position he held until he left the IOC in 2002.

During his time at the IOC, Kidané launched numerous projects, in particular with the United Nations, around the Olympic Truce, the environment and the promotion of women in sport.

Kidané also worked for the United Nations in New York City, where he served as a translator in Ethiopia's peacekeeping mission in Congo.

He worked for sports organisations like the Ethiopian Olympic Committee, where he was the first secretary general, and the African Football Confederation.

Kidané was also first secretary general of the Ethiopian Cycling Federation, Ethiopia Tennis Federation, Shoa Football League and was a public relations officer of the Ethiopian Football Federation.

He helped Ethiopia organise the 1968 and 1976 Africa Cup of Nations in Addis Ababa.

Kidané had started his career in sports journalism, becoming Ethiopia’s first football commentator and the founder of the African Sport Journalists Union.

"I am very shocked by the news," International Sports Press Association President Gianni Merlo said.

"I knew Fekrou for over 40 years and he was a man of culture and principle who always found balance in his thoughts.

"He helped a lot to grow journalism in Africa and beyond.

"He always attended our Congresses and came up with ideas that shape our profession and for this he will be missed by all of us."

Another heartfelt tribute to Kidané was paid on social media by one of his peers, Tommy Sithole, also a former journalist who worked for the IOC, where he worked for 12 years in international relations.

"He was a small-framed man with a giant mind, a selfless individual who gave his all for African dignity, an incredibly generous man, a professional and who in the more than 40 years I knew him I never heard him raise his voice in anger," Sithole, also a former secretary general of the Association of National Olympic Committee of Africa, wrote in a long post on Facebook.

"Fékrou never for a moment ceased to be the pan-Africanist that I came to know him as.

"He was passionate about Africa and the continent's youth.

"He was passionate about applying sport to the fight against apartheid and colonialism, particularly in South Africa and Rhodesia.

"I’m struggling to remember African organisations of substance that truly honoured him for his massive contribution to what we in Africa aspire to be or are today.

"Rest in Power, Cool Guy.

"You ran your race well."