Melitón Sánchez founded his own accounting firm and also moved the dreams of athletes. Sánchez played baseball and softball and from there he understood that sport could change lives and then he threw himself fully into management. He was Treasurer and then President of the Panama Olympic Committee for decades, a position he held from 1982 to 2007, before being named Honorary President for Life. According to those close to him, Melitón always said that Panama had to be there, even if it had to be by force. His name was surrounded by scandals, complaints, and friction. Today, Sunday, February 15, 2026, the death of Melitón Sánchez, one of the sports leaders, former member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), was confirmed. He was 91 years old. He was a man of numbers and the field, a public accountant by profession. He said that since his election in 1982, everything was part of a campaign to get him out of the way. He repeatedly denied the allegations of the alleged illegal sale of tickets in Barcelona '92 and the embezzlement of funds in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, assuring that they made-up stories by those who wanted to take over his positions. Even so, in the sports world, many recognize a lifetime dedicated to Olympism and the promotion of amateur sports in Panama and Central America, with its ups and downs. Judicial processes for alleged falsification of documents and crimes against the public administration, internal fights within the Olympic movement, booing at public events and open clashes with governments of different marked much of his passage through sports leadership. But Melitón Sánchez always maintained another version.
