Marc Hodler, a Swiss member of the International Olympic Committee who revealed allegations of widespread bribery in bidding for the Olympics Games in the 1990s, has died at the age of 87, the IOC announced Wednesday.

The IOC said in a statement Wednesday that Hodler passed away in hospital in Bern after suffering a stroke three days ago.

"The IOC expresses its sadness at the passing of a member who dedicated so much to the Olympic Movement. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr Hodlers family," said IOC President Jacques Rogge.

Hodler headed the International Skiing Federation (FIS) from 1951 to 1998, and joined the IOC in 1963, leading Commissions organising several Winter Games in the 1990s and heading the IOC's finance commission for 14 years.

The Swiss lawyer shot to even greater prominence in December 1998, when he alleged that millions of dollars of bribes were regularly paid to IOC members in exchange for votes to decide on the host cities for the Olympic Games.

Although allegations or rumours of isolated bribery had surfaced beforehand, notably with Salt Lake City, Hodler's claim unleashed a far wider scandal about the underhand practices of bidding cities and some Olympic chiefs.

Hodler's allegations targeted campaigns conducted by Atlanta for the 1996 Games, Nagano for 1998 and Sydney for 2000, which all the venues denied at the time.

The scandal eventually toppled Rogge's predecessor, long-standing IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, and led to a sweeping clean-up of the Olympic bidding process.