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Olympics-Long-serving IOC member Tallberg dies

BERLIN, May 16 (Reuters) - Peter Tallberg, the second longest serving member of the International Olympic committee, has died aged 77, the IOC said on Saturday. A five-time Olympic sailor, Tallberg from Finland, had been an IOC member since 1976, second only to Russian Vitaly Smirnov. His best Olympic performance was a fourth-place at the Tokyo 1964 Games. Tallberg was also the founding chairman of the athletes' commission, created to increase the involvement of athletes past and present in the Olympic movement and Games preparation and operation. "As the founding chairman of the athletes commission Peter was my first teacher at the IOC," IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement. "He worked all his life for sport and for protecting the clean athletes. The athletes of the world and all those who love sport owe him a huge debt and he has left a lasting legacy for the Olympic Movement for which we can all be grateful." Tallberg also headed the International Sailing Federation from 1986-1994 among a number of international sports administration positions in a long career. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Justin Palmer)