We sorrowfully regret to inform you of the passing of former International Shooting Sport Federation President Don Olegario Vázquez Raña at the age of 89.
Mr Vázquez Raña led the shooting sport movement during four separate decades from 1980 to 2018, making him the longest-serving President in our organisation’s history.
His service to our sport dates back to the 1950s as an athletes and administratively in 1969 when he was made a member of the Mexican Olympic Committee. In 1975, he became President of the Mexican Shooting Federation, a position he held for 17 years before being named Lifelong Honorary President.
The year before being elected as the ISSF President, Mr Vázquez Raña became the President of the Shooting Confederation of the Americas in 1979, stepping down in 2010 and once again granted the role of Honorary President.
He was a passionate administrator, who was the Vice-President of the Mexican Sports Confederation from 1983 to 1992 and an integral part of the Olympic Movement, first becoming a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1995. During his tenure, he served on the Olympic Solidarity, New Sources of Funding, Research for the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in 2000, Marketing and IOC 2002 Commissions.
But the entrepreneur was also a great athlete in his own right. He was a four-time Olympian between 1964 and 1976 and represented Mexico on home soil at the Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games. He held national records in many shooting disciplines and was a world record-holder in air rifle.
President Luciano Rossi said:
“Olegario Vazquez Raña was truly a colossus in the history of our sport and of the Olympic Movement.
"His presidency will be remembered for modernising the sport and its competition formats, which can still be seen today. He was the first ISSF President to introduce the finals format, electronic scoring systems and mixed team events.
"We pay tribute to the former President and thank him for his decades of service to shooting sport as an athlete and as an administrator.”
We express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mr Vázquez Raña at this time.
Attached below is a letter from the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, expressed his sorrow in a letter to Mr Vázquez Raña, announcing the Olympic flag will be flown at half-mast for three days in his honour.