Luis Rafael Mejía Oviedo (born September 4, 1953,

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

) is an economist, communicator, sportsman and sports executive. He is currently the president of the Dominican Republic Olympic Committee ( COLIMDO), an entity he has directed since 2006, in addition to being the president of the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization ( ODECABE) and a member of the commissions on Women in Sport and Public Affairs and Social Development through Sport of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

Sports administration

He began his career in sports administration as President of the Aboriginal Sports League, which he directed for one year (1977–1978). He then served as Vice President of the National District Softball Association (1979–1981) and later President of that same entity until 1986, as well as Secretary General of the C&C Softball Championship Organizing Committee in 1981. Later he was President of the Dominican Softball Federation, a position he held for 26 years (1983–2009). During that period of time he occupied different positions; being Vice President of the

International Softball Federation Map of member states., 400px, right The International Softball Federation (ISF) is the former international governing body for the sport of softball with its world headquarters and training centre at Plant City, Florida. The ISF is a non-profit ...

(1988–1990), Secretary General of the Dominican Olympic Committee (1991–2003) and President of the same sports entity (2003–present), besides being Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

2003.

Dominican Olympic Committee

The Dominican Republic Olympic Committee (COLIMDO) is the body that represents the national sport before the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, the

and the

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for 32 countries and ...

. Its headquarters are located in

. On three occasions it has been the entity responsible for holding international sports events in the

, such as the

of 1974 and 1986, as well as the

of 2003. In this entity Mejía Oviedo has occupied different positions until becoming President, a position he has held since 2003 until the present. He was Secretary General in three different periods: period from 1990 to 1994, period from 1994 to 1998 and 1998 to 2002. Then he was 1st Vice President, a position he held during the presidency of Dr.

José Joaquín Puello José Joaquín Puello de Castro (1805 – December 23, 1847) was a Dominican revolutionary and government minister who stood out as a key leader in the Dominican War of Independence. His participation in the proclamation of Independence on ...

, and later became President from 2003 and continues to lead the entity today.

ODECABE

He was elected President of the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization (ODECABE) for the period 2019–2023.Luis Mejía es electo presidente de la ODECABE
/ref> Mejía's election took place during the institution's National Election Assembly held on October 31, 2019 in

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. With this important election, Mejía Oviedo became the second Dominican to reach this position in the history of sports leadership. The first Dominican to have achieved this position was Dr.

, who presided over this organization for several periods.

IOC

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the body responsible for promoting Olympism in the world and coordinating the activities of the Olympic Movement. It is in charge of supervising and managing everything related to the

. Mejía Oviedo is a member of this important entity at world level: Women in Sport, of which he is a member from 2017 to the present; and Public Affairs and Social Development through Sport, of which he is a member from 2018 to the present.Luis Mejía IOC History
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mejía Oviedo, Luis 1953 births Living people International Olympic Committee members Sportspeople from Santo Domingo