Lausanne, May 9, 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. —- Photo © FEI/Germain Arias-Schreiber
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.