Gold Medalist Deaths While the Title Holder

A bit more on the tragic helicopter crash that took the lives of French swimming gold medalist Camille Muffat, French boxing medalist Alexis Vastine, and renowned French sailor, although not an Olympian, Florence Arthaud.

Muffat was the gold medalist in the women’s 400 metre freestyle at the London Olympics, and thus died while holding the crown. She becomes the 83^rd Olympian to have died as the holding gold medalist. She is the 29^th Olympian to have been an individual gold medalist, but dying before the event was next contested. (Earlier post incorrect as when checking the database I looked for Olympians dying within 4 years, and neglected some of the 1912 and 1936 Olympians who waited 8 and 12 years for the next Olympics. Thanks to Harri Piironen for pointing this out.)

The full list of the 83 Olympians who died while the holder of a gold medal is as follows:

[table]

Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Spt,Year,YOD

Joseph Olivier,M,S,FRA,RUG,1900,1901

Alfred Tysoe,M,S,GBR,ATH,1900,1901

Galen C. Spencer,M,S,USA,ARC,1904,1904

David Bratton,M,S,USA,WAP,1904,1904

Étienne Desmarteau,M,S,CAN,ATH,1904,1905

George Van Cleaf,M,S,USA,WAP,1904,1905

George Sheldon,M,S,USA,DIV,1904,1907

David Hesser,M,S,USA,WAP,1904,1908

John B. Taylor,M,S,USA,ATH,1908,1908

Carl Holmberg,M,S,SWE,GYM,1908,1909

Reggie Doherty,M,S,GBR,TEN,1908,1910

Bernard Redwood,M,S,GBR,MTB,1908,1911

Carl Folcker,M,S,SWE,GYM,1908,1911

Kostas Tsiklitiras,M,S,GRE,ATH,1912,1913

Ralph Rose,M,S,USA,ATH,1912,1913

Ronald Brebner,M,S,GBR,FTB,1912,1914

Guido Romano,M,S,ITA,GYM,1912,1916

Gaston Salmon,M,S,BEL,FEN,1912,1917

Alister Kirby,M,S,GBR,ROW,1912,1917

Isaac Bentham,M,S,GBR,WAP,1912,1917

Victor Willems,M,S,BEL,FEN,1912,1918

Joseph Dines,M,S,GBR,FTB,1912,1918

Cecil Healy,M,S,ANZ,SWI,1912,1918

Henry Macintosh,M,S,GBR,ATH,1912,1918

Harry Sears,M,S,USA,SHO,1912,1920

Mike Kelly,M,S,USA,SHO,1920,1923

Frans De Haes,M,S,BEL,WLT,1920,1923

Émile Albrecht,M,S,SUI,ROW,1924,1927

Sybil Bauer,F,S,USA,SWI,1924,1927

Ödön von Tersztyánszky,M,S,HUN,FEN,1928,1929

René Borjas,M,S,URU,FTB,1928,1931

George Saling,M,S,USA,ATH,1932,1933

Andrew Libano,M,S,USA,SAI,1932,1935

Paul Wevers,M,S,GER,CAN,1936,1941

Ludwig Stubbendorf,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1941

Herbert Adamski,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1941

Hugo Strauß,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1941

Kalle Jalkanen,M,W,FIN,CCS,1936,1941

Heinz Körvers,M,S,GER,HAN,1936,1942

Martin Karl,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1942

Ernst Winter,M,S,GER,GYM,1936,1943

Arthur Knautz,M,S,GER,HAN,1936,1943

Hans Maier,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1943

Hans Woellke,M,S,GER,ATH,1936,1943

Foy Draper,M,S,USA,ATH,1936,1943

Heinz Brandt,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1944

Kurt Hasse,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1944

Toni Merkens,M,S,GER,CYC,1936,1944

Endre Kabos,M,S,HUN,FEN,1936,1944

Georg Dascher,M,S,GER,HAN,1936,1944

Hannes Hansen,M,S,GER,HAN,1936,1944

Shigeo Arai,M,S,JPN,SWI,1936,1944

Lauri Koskela,M,S,FIN,WRE,1936,1944

Kustaa Pihlajamäki,M,S,FIN,WRE,1936,1944

Rudolf Lippert,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1945

Willi Menne,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1945

Ferenc Csík,M,S,HUN,SWI,1936,1945

Olivér Halassy,M,S,HUN,WAP,1936,1946

Corny Johnson,M,S,USA,ATH,1936,1946

Charles Leaf,M,S,GBR,SAI,1936,1947

Sayed Jaffar,M,S,IND,HOK,1936,1937

Gunnar Höckert,M,S,FIN,ATH,1936,1940

Nils Östensson,M,W,SWE,CCS,1948,1949

George Ahlgren,M,S,USA,ROW,1948,1951

Ed Sanders,M,S,USA,BOX,1952,1954

Skippy Browning,M,S,USA,DIV,1952,1956

Viktor Blinov,M,W,URS,ICH,1968,1968

István Kozma,M,S,HUN,WRE,1968,1970

Yuliya Riabchynska,F,S,URS,CAN,1972,1973

Yuriy Lahutin,M,S,URS,HAN,1976,1978

Bronisław Malinowski,M,S,POL,ATH,1980,1981

Volodymyr Smyrnov,M,S,URS,FEN,1980,1982

Sergey Rogozhin,M,S,URS,EQU,1980,1983

Valeriy Hoborov,M,S,URS,BAS,1988,1989

Paolo Caldarella,M,S,ITA,WAP,1992,1993

Roberto Balado,M,S,CUB,BOX,1992,1994

Fabio Casartelli,M,S,ITA,CYC,1992,1995

Sergey Grinkov,M,W,RUS,FSK,1994,1995

Sandra Schmirler,F,W,CAN,CUR,1998,2000

Bekzat Sattarkhanov,M,S,KAZ,BOX,2000,2000

Sammy Wanjiru,M,S,KEN,ATH,2008,2011

Camille Muffat,F,S,FRA,SWI,2012,2015

[/table]

Here is the list of the 29 individual gold medalists who died as holders: