The IAAF and other sources report the death in Shanghai, China, of Torsten Carlius, who was president of World Masters Athletics for eight years until this past summer, when he was elected secretary of WMA at the San Sebastian world meet. Rex Harvey, WMA vice president-stadia, writes: “I understand that he was there trying to organize an Asian Masters Games.” (But another source, from Hong Kong, notes that Torsten’s son lives in Shanghai.) The IAAF posted this notice today:

IAAF mourns sudden death of WMA General Secretary Torsten Carlius
Thursday 24 November 2005
“Monte-Carlo – The IAAF has received the very sad news that our friend and colleague, much appreciated member of the IAAF Masters’ Committee, former President, and current General Secretary of the World Masters’ Association, Torsten Carlius (66), has suffered a fatal heart attack, while in Shanghai, China.
“It is with great sorrow that we hear this news. Torsten was a wonderful colleague and friend, who devoted all his life to our sport and who will be sadly missed,” commented Istvan Gyulai, IAAF General Secretary.
“Torsten Carlius (SWE), graduated from the School of Economics at the University of Lund, and had been the Chief Financial Officer at the municipal housing company in Helsingborg since 1985.
“Torsten was active all his life in athletics and held various offices in the Swedish Athletic Association and its regional association for about 40 years. On the international level he had been leader for Swedish youth and junior national teams, a Swedish Delegate at European Calendar Congresses and at the European Junior Championships, and until the last of WMA (World Masters’ Association) Congress in August had been serving as its President.
“At the time of his sudden and tragic death, Torsten was the current General Secretary of WMA, a Member of the Board of Governors of IMGA (International Masters’ Games Association), co-opted member of the Council of EVAA (European Veterans’ Athletic Association), and Member of IAAF Masters’ Committee. His home club was IFK Helsingborg – one of the biggest athletic clubs in Sweden.”
Me again:
It’s no secret that I’ve been one of Torsten’s biggest thorns the past eight years, ever since he beat Al Sheahen for the presidency of what was then called WAVA, the World Association of Veteran Athletes. Torsten earned his critical scrutiny by heavy-handed micro-management of the world governing body and questionable tactics that ranged from yanking the world meet from Malaysia in 2003 to yanking the public message board from the WMA Web site not long after its inception.
He also was involved in a clear conflict of interest by serving on the WMA board while also being a paid governor of the International Masters Games Association, which competes directly with WMA.
However, Torsten did commit years of his life to the cause of masters athletics. And he probably suffered more than his share of grief from the likes of me.
His death — like that of Yasser Arafat — represents an opening in WMA — a chance to reform and open up. He defeated Brian Oxley of Canada for general secretary, and perhaps Oxley may be moved into Torsten’s job. But the WMA Constitution says: “(c) No officer shall hold more than one office at any one time but, in the event of an officer failing for any reason to complete his term of office, the remaining Council’s members shall appoint a replacement to fulfill his duties until the next General Assembly.”
But this vacancy may be the first of its kind in WMA, so we’ll have to wait and see how Cesare Beccalli handles it. It’ll be a good test of his new presidency — whether he handpicks a successor or seeks a consensus of the WMA Council.
Torsten also had iron-fist control over the WMA Web site (which still hadn’t reported Torsten’s passing more than 10 hours after the news was posted on the IAAF site.) Perhaps a new secretary will change the site’s tone, and focus on athletes instead of administrators.
Many questions still unanswered. Stay tuned.