Craig Reedie, former WADA president, BOA chairman, and architect of London 2012, died on 6 April 2026 aged 84, leaving an indelible mark on global sport
Craig Reedie, a highly influential figure in UK and international sport, died aged 84 on 6 April 2026 while on holiday with his family in the UK.
Spending more than five decades in sport, Reedie started out as a professional badminton player before taking a lead at the highest levels of administration in the sport.
He helped shape badminton’s Olympic involvement and was an advocate for clean competition.
From shuttlecock to the Olympic stage
Born in Scotland, on 6 May 1941, Reedie began his sporting career as a competitive badminton player in the 1960s, becoming a national doubles champion and representing Great Britain internationally.
At the time, badminton was not yet an Olympic sport, until Reedie was elected President of the International Badminton Federation (IBF) in 1981, when he led a successful campaign to include badminton on the Olympic programme. The first medals for badminton at the Olympics were awarded at Barcelona in 1992.
“[Sir] Craig was the man who opened the Olympic door for badminton. Every badminton player who has walked into an Olympic arena owes something to Craig Reedie,” said Badminton World Federation (BWF) President Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul.
The road to London 2012
Reedie went on to chair the British Olympic Association (BOA) from 1992 to 2005, during which time he played a crucial role in London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
He subsequently served as a Director of the London 2012 Organising Committee through to the Games themselves.
Sebastian Coe, World Athletics President, said: “Craig’s role in securing the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games was immeasurable. Without Craig and his leadership of the British Olympic Association, we may never have won the right to host London 2012.”
In 2009, Reedie became the first Briton to hold a seat on the IOC Executive Board since 1961, later serving as IOC Vice-President from 2012 to 2016.
Confronting sport’s darkest chapter
In 2013, Reedie was elected as the third President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), where he helped steer it through one of sport’s most turbulent periods – the revelation of the systematic manipulation of Russia’s anti-doping system.
When the state-sponsored scheme operating around the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics was exposed, Reedie and WADA called for a ban on Russian participation at the 2016 Rio Games.
He described what had occurred as a “real horror story” that seriously undermined the principles of clean sport. The attempt to secure a full Russian ban ultimately failed at IOC level, a decision that drew widespread criticism – but Reedie’s attempts to push for the ban received widespread praise.
Current WADA President Witold Bańka said on Reedie’s passing: “He was a man of great integrity and, as a sportsman at heart, he believed that sport shows us it is always possible to do better.”
In recognition of his service to sport, Reedie was appointed CBE in 1999, knighted in 2006, and elevated to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 2018. He also received the Olympic Order in 2023.
BOA chair Katherine Grainger, who received some of her Olympic medals from Reedie himself, said: “Few knew the Olympic movement better, and fewer still served it with such distinction.”
Reedie is survived by his wife, Lady Rosemary, his children Colin and Catriona, and his grandchildren.
