Alex Gilady (© Getty Images)
World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that Israeli sports journalist Alex Gilady died on Wednesday (13) at the age of 79.
Gilady was born in December 1942 in Tehran, Iran, as his family had fled their native Poland during the Second World War. They later settled in Ramat HaSharon, Israel, and it was there Gilady developed his love of sports.
After studying at the Naval College in Michmoret, Gilady started working as a sports journalist in 1964, and after a few years he moved into sports commentary for TV. In 1981 he became vice president of NBC Sports, and from 1985 to 2008 he was chairman of the World Athletics Television Commission.
Gilady became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1994, and two years later was promoted to senior vice president of NBC Sports. More recently, he was vice chairman for the Coordination Commission for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Gilady was the recipient of seven Emmy Academy Awards for the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Salt Lake City 2002, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012. He also won an Emmy Award for Best Journalistic Story with the subject ‘The Sea’ in 1970.
“Alex’s passing is a grievous loss to his family, friends and the international sporting landscape,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. “He brought to all his deliberations a rare suffusion of political, commercial, communication and sporting nous. No gathering at major events will ever be quite the same.”
World Athletics