Katherine Road: "This is being called the worst scandal in Olympic history"

The decision was made by ballot at a special session of the IOC in Lausanne in the wake of the Salt Lake City corruption scandal.

BBC Sports News Correspondent Gordon Farquher: "Some are worried that to remove Samaranch now could cause problems"

It is the first time in the IOC's 105-year reign that members have been thrown out for corruption.

The IOC members earlier passed a vote of confidence of their leader, Juan Antonio Samaranch.

The six expelled members are:

• Ecuador's Agustin Arroyo
• Congo's Jean-Claude Ganga
• Sudan's Zein El Abdin Abdel Gadir
• Mali's Lamine Keita
• Chile's Sergio Santander
• Samoa's Paul Wallwork

All six were found guilty by a six-person IOC inquiry of accepting excessive gifts or cash during Salt Lake City's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Dick Pound: "We're at the end of the beginning"

The 11-strong IOC executive board had earlier recommended their expulsion, but a two-thirds majority among committee members was needed to enforce that decision.

Each of the men was given 20 minutes to answer the charges in front of the 91 members at the special meeting, after which each case was voted on individually.

The vote counts were:

• 72-16 against Arroyo
• 88-2 against Ganga
• 86-4 against Gadir
• 72-16 against Keita
• 76-12 against Santander
• 67-19 against Wallwork.

An earlier investigation into the scandal found that two top officials who led Salt Lake City's 2002 bid paid more than $1m to 24 members of the IOC panel which chooses the venue.

Four IOC members have already resigned and further inquiries into claims that excessive hospitality and gifts were accepted have resulted in formal warnings being sent to another nine people.

Samaranch to stay

Samaranch accepted responsibility

Mr Samaranch called the general assembly "the most important session" in the organisation's history.

At the start of Wednesday's hearing, he urged: "We must root out all forms of inappropriate or unethical behaviour among our membership and expel those members (as) recommended by the executive board."

In a secret ballot, 86 members of the IOC voted for him to remain in office, while only two were opposed. There was one abstention.

Juan Antonio Samaranch: "I will be taking actions to make sure that this doesn't happen again"

Mr Samaranch, 78, has held his post for 18 years. He has repeatedly refused to stand down following the scandal.

Before the meeting, the Olympics chief said that he planned to stay in power until the end of his mandate in 2001.