Pedro Jaime de Matheu

The United Provinces of Central America was formed in 1821, consisting of an alliance among Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The name was changed after one year to the Federal Republic of Central America, and the group was disbanded in 1841 but they maintained a loose affiliation for many years. Thus in 1918 Pedro Jaime de Matheu was co-opted as an IOC Member representing Central America, though such a vague designation no longer had any formal meaning.

In 1917 he had started his Olympic involvement as part of a four-member commission to study the propagation of Olympism in the Americas, Comité de Propaganda Olímpica de la America Latina, along with de Coubertin, Enrique Dorn, and Raul Branco. De Matheu was known for his support of female participation at the Olympics and he supported the idea of the Cultural Olympiads. He also was active in some of the early discussion about the possibility of starting Pan American Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games.

De Matheu was a career diplomat, serving as El Salvadorian delegate to the League of Nations, and when he was appointed to the IOC, he was Consul General in Paris for El Salvador. For his work in France, he was made an officer of the League d’Honneur in 1919. De Matheu served on the IOC until his death in Madrid in August 1940, where he was serving as an honorary consul for the Republic of Honduras.