Tag Archives: Pedro Oscar Mayorga

Community/Charity

FEI Bureau Honours FEI Family Member Pedro Mayorga at Conclusion of Sports Forum

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FEI 2nd Vice President Pedro Mayorga (ARG) cut the ribbon during the inauguration ceremony of the FEI Headquarters conference room dedicated to his late father Pedro Oscar Mayorga, who was the longest serving FEI Bureau members. (c) FEI/Germain Arias-Schreiber.

Lausanne, 9 May 2014 – The FEI Bureau dedicated one of the main conference rooms at FEI Headquarters to the late FEI Honorary Vice President and Bureau Member Pedro Oscar Mayorga (ARG) on 29 April, providing a fitting finale to the annual Sports Forum which concluded in Lausanne (SUI) on the same day.

Mayorga, who passed away in January at the age of 93, was the longest serving Bureau members in the history of the FEI, having held a succession of official positions between 1956 and 1981.

He was a successful Jumping rider whose most significant achievement as an athlete was as a member of the Argentinian team that finished fourth in the Jumping competition at the Stockholm 1956 Olympic Games. This remains the best Olympic placing by an Argentinian equestrian team to date.

“Pedro Mayorga was the first FEI Bureau member from Latin America,” FEI President HRH Princess Haya said. “He put the continent in the limelight and encouraged many deserving people from that part of the world to join the FEI committees, to attend the FEI General Assemblies, and to speak up on behalf of their countries. He was a great believer in loyalty and dialogue and stood by those principles his entire life.

“Pedro Mayorga was the father of the current FEI 2nd Vice President Pablo Mayorga and it makes me very emotional to think that the home of our sport, the FEI Headquarters, is now the House of Fathers.

“When I inaugurated this building in 2011, I dedicated it to my late father, HM King Hussein I, and I am proud to think that it has become a place where we celebrate the FEI Family.

“Our sport is looking forward to its future, as demonstrated by the lively discussions which took place during the Sports Forum, but remembering and treasuring our past and traditions is an essential part of our values.

“It gives me a great pleasure to pay tribute to a great horseman, official, chef d’équipe, FEI Vice President and, of course, father,” she concluded.

“I am moved to tears by the honour bestowed upon my late father,” an emotional Pablo Mayorga said after cutting the ribbon the Pedro Mayorga room.

“This means so much to my entire family and to me. Our father taught us so much and I treasure the values and principles he instilled in us. I am always at home in the FEI Headquarters, and now I feel that there is a part of the Mayorga family here too.”

The dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony took place at the cocktail party to mark the end of the third FEI Sports Forum, and was attended by National Federation representatives and other delegates.

FEI Media Contacts:

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
ruth.grundy@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 45

Malina Gueorguiev
Manager Media Relations
Email: malina.gueorguiev@fei.org
Tel: +41 787 506 133

Community/Charity

In Memoriam: Pedro Oscar Mayorga (ARG), 1921-2014

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Pedro Oscar Mayorga (left), former FEI Honorary Vice President and Bureau Member, who has passed away at the age of 93. He is pictured here with HRH Prince Philip, FEI President from 1964 to 1986.

Lausanne (SUI), 8 January 2014 – Pedro Oscar Mayorga, former FEI Honorary Vice President and Bureau Member, passed away peacefully on 6 January 2014 surrounded by his family at home in Buenos Aires. He was 93.

A Jumping rider, an Olympian, a chef d’équipe, and an official at the highest level of the sport, Mayorga was the longest serving FEI Bureau member, having joined in 1956 as the first ever Latin American representative on the Bureau.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1921, the year in which the FEI was created, Pedro Oscar Mayorga began competing in equestrian events in his native city at the age of eight and was a two-time national junior champion. In 1947 he met top rider Elena Argañaràz on the Jumping circuit and they married eight months later. Together they competed at FEI events in Europe and America throughout the 1950s. They had five children, three of whom – Eduardo, Juan Francisco and current FEI Second Vice President Pablo Mayorga – are involved in equestrian sport.

In 1955 and 1959, Mayorga was on the Argentinean Jumping team at the Pan American Games in Mexico City (MEX) and Chicago (USA), but probably his most significant achievement as an athlete was the fourth place of his country’s team in the Jumping competition at the Stockholm 1956 Olympic Games. This remains the best Olympic placing by an Argentinean equestrian team to date.

In the late 1950s, Mayorga combined riding and the role of chef d’équipe and in 1960 he was chef d’équipe of the Argentinean team which won the historic Aga Khan trophy at the Dublin Horse Show in Ireland. He was also chef d’équipe at the Olympic Games in Rome the same year.

Between 1962 and 1976 he was Technical Delegate in Jumping and Eventing, President of the Ground Jury in Jumping, and a member of the Appeal Committee at key events, including four Olympic Games – Tokyo 1964, Mexico City 1968, Munich 1972, and Montreal 1976.

In 1956, while walking the Jumping course in Aachen (GER), he was told that the then FEI President HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands would like to meet him. Shortly afterwards Pedro Oscar Mayorga became an FEI Bureau member. From 1965 he held the position of Second and then First FEI Vice President until he stepped down in 1981. “The Bureau will not be the same without you,” HRH Prince Philip, FEI President from 1964 to 1986, wrote to Mayorga upon his retirement.

“The passing of Pedro Oscar Mayorga comes as very sad news to us all,” FEI President HRH Princess Haya said. “He was a talented rider, a successful chef d’équipe, a much respected official, the longest serving FEI Bureau member and Vice President, and a real gentleman whom I admired very much. He dedicated his long life to serving our sport and the contribution he has made in his various roles is truly exceptional Our thoughts are with his family and especially with our dear friend, FEI Second Vice President Pablo Mayorga, at this time of mourning. Pedro Oscar Mayorga’s legacy will live on through his son.”

“I believe I will never be able to contribute to our FEI as much as my father did during his 25 years as Bureau Member and Vice President,” Pablo Mayorga said.

The FEI extends its sincere condolences to Pedro Oscar Mayorga’s family, to the Argentinean equestrian community and to all his many friends around the world. May he rest in peace.

Media contacts:

Grania Willis
Director Media Relations
Grania.willis@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 42

Malina Gueorguiev
Manager Media Relations
Email: malina.gueorguiev@fei.org
Tel: +41 787 506 133