Engineer Juan Ulises (Wiche) Garcia Saleta, 77, died yesterday in a triple car collision on the 6 de Noviembre Highway. The man better known as the father of Olympic sports in the Dominican Republic was returning to Santo Domingo from his Palmar de Ocoa beach home.
Garcia Saleta is credited for the celebration of the 12th Central American and Caribbean Sports Games, an event that integrated Dominicans at all levels and marked the establishment of a full range sports facilities. Garcia Saleta was lauded for these accomplishments, at a time when any contribution to sports was done for the love of the game and Dominican youth, not as a profitable business. His endeavors have given us the heritage of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center, the site of the 1974 sports games.
Garcia Saleta was the first president of the Dominican Olympic Committee in 1962. He presided over the Dominican delegation that for the first time traveled to an Olympic Games with an athlete. He later presided over the committee from 1970 to 1974, on occasion of organizational works leading up to the celebration of the very successful 12th Games.
A special mourning ceremony is scheduled for 2pm today at the Virgilio Travieso Soto Sports Palace in the JPD Olympic Center.