Over the next two days, we have birthdays of two Olympians who hold titles among the Oldest Olympians. Both of these individuals, however, were last known living in 2012 and were featured in a blog entry earlier this year as such. Because of this, we wanted to mention them both in another blog post to discuss who will be their successors should we have to remove them from our tables at the end of the year due to a lack of updates.

(Im Gyeong-Sun, pictured at Korea JoongAng Daily)

The first is Hong Jong-Oh, born July 7, 1925, who would be turning 98 today. Hong represented South Korea in two editions of the Olympic marathon, placing 25th in 1948 and failing to finish in 1952. He was mentioned in 2012 as being one of the few local survivors of the 1948 London Games, which would now make him the oldest living South Korean Olympian, but we have not seen an update since then. If he were deceased, alpine skier Im Gyeong-Sun, born in 1929, would be the oldest living South Korean Olympian.

(Lies Bonnier)

The second is Lies Bonnier, born July 8, 1925, who would be turning 98 tomorrow. She represented the Netherlands in the 200 metres breaststroke event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she was eliminated in the semi-finals. After winning her first and only national title a few months after the Olympics, she retired from active competition, although she later participated in masters-level tournaments. She was known to be alive in 2012 and, if she is still alive today, then she is the oldest living Dutch Olympian. If not, then that title goes to canoeist Cees Koch, born December 30, 1925.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Norwegian swimmer Bea Ballintijn, born May 9, 1923, died June 29 at the age of 100. Ballintijn represented her country in the 100 metres backstroke at the 1948 London Games, where she was eliminated in round one. Domestically, she was champion in that event in 1938 and 1939 and from 1946 through 1951. When we featured her recently, we noted that she was the oldest living Norwegian Olympian, and thus we wanted to cover her successor in that regard in this blog.

When looking up information on the Olympian that we believed to be her successor, however, track athlete Viktor Olsen, born February 5, 1924, we learned that he died April 21 at the age of 99. Olsen represented his country in the marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he finished 16^th. Domestically, he was a five-time national champion (1954 1956-1959) and also won the 25 kilometer road race from 1953 through 1957. By career, he was a gardener.

This makes Ingrid Wigernæs, born February 22, 1928, the new oldest living Norwegian Olympian. Wigernæs took part in three cross-country skiing events across two editions of the Winter Olympics, finishing 27th in the 10 km in 1956 and joint-15th and 12th in the 5 and 10 km events respectively in 1964. She won several national titles over the course of her career, but her biggest international success came at the 1966 World Championships, where she was a member of the 3×5 km relay squad that took silver. She later turned to coaching, with her most notable success in that realm coming from her mentorship over the 3×5 km relay team that took gold at the 1968 Grenoble Games. Wigernæs was already the oldest living Olympian to have competed at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics and now resides in Oslo.

Finally, we have some additional updates on previous cases, including two of our Austrian Olympic mysteries that are now solved. Fencer Richard Brünner has been confirmed as the individual born November 18, 1888 and died November 25, 1962, while figure skater Fritz Wächtler did die on July 26, 1963. Finally, we learned the French gymnast previously known as Antoine Chatelaine, and then André Chatelaine, was actually André Chatelain, born March 31, 1902 and died January 14, 1968.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that German equestrian Willi Büsing, born March 2, 1921, died June 25 at the age of 102. Büsing represented his country in eventing at the 1952 Helsinki Games, winning silver with the team and bronze individually. He also won a silver medal in the team event at the 1954 European Championships and later became involved in sports administration. Most notably, he acted as team coach and veterinarian at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Summer Games. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic equestrian and the oldest living German Olympian. As we have done in the past, we wanted to provide an update on who now holds those titles.

The oldest living German Olympian is now track and field athlete Marianne Werner, born January 4, 1924. Werner represented her country in the shot put and the discus throw at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics, winning silver and bronze in the shot put in those years respectively. In 1958 she won the European Championships in that event and did not retire until the 1960s, after which she became involved in the teaching of sport science.

(Maud von Rosen)

The oldest living Olympic equestrian is now William de Rham, born August 22, 1922, who represented Switzerland in the show jumping tournament at the 1956 Stockholm equestrian Olympics, where he finished joint-19th individually and 9th overall with his team. The oldest living medalist in equestrian, meanwhile, is Sweden’s Maud von Rosen, born December 24, 1925. Van Rosen represented her country in the dressage tournament at the 1972 Munich Games, finishing eighth individually, which helped Sweden take a bronze medal in the team competition. She also earned bronze with the Swedish dressage team a year earlier, at the 1971 European Championships.

(Marjorie Jackson)

Finally, a few days ago, on June 22, we celebrated the 92^nd birthday of Australian cyclist Ian Browne, who was the oldest living Australian Olympic champion, having won gold in the tandem sprint, 2000 metres event at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Unfortunately, we have learned that he died two days later, on June 24. This makes Marjorie Jackson, born September 13, 1931, the oldest living Australian Olympic champion. Jackson represented her country in three events at the 1952 Helsinki Games, winning gold in the 100 and 200 metres and placing fifth in the 4×100 metres relay. She also won seven gold medals at the British Empire Games in 1950 and 1954. She later became involved in politics and was appointed governor of South Australia in 2001, serving until 2007.

Today on Oldest Olympians we want to cover two recent Olympic medal mysteries. As a reminder, these are Olympians who won an Olympic medal during their careers, but for whom we have no indication of whether they are alive or deceased as of their 90^th birthday.

Teijiro Tanikawa – Member of Japan’s swimming delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics

Teijiro Tanikawa, born December 20, 1932, represented Japan in the 4×200 metres freestyle relay at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a silver medal. He also competed at the 1954 Asian Games and took gold in that event, in addition to silver in the individual 100 metres freestyle. Aside from this, however, we have been unable to find any additional details about his life, including whether or not he is still alive.

Igor Kashkarov – Member of the Soviet track and field delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

Igor Kashkarov, born May 5, 1933, represented the Soviet Union in the high jump at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he won a bronze medal. He also took silver in that event at the 1961 Universiade and was fourth at the 1958 European Championships. Domestically, he was Soviet Champion in 1955 and 1959 and later worked as an athletics coach. Russian Wikipedia has a possible date of death of May 4, 2004, but even that page questions whether or not this is accurate.

Finally, just to finish off our list of mysteries, we wanted to mention the case of Víctor Flores. Flores was a member of Peru’s fencing delegation to the 1936 Berlin Olympics and was entered into the individual sabre competition, but did not start. He did, however, carry his nation’s flag in the opening ceremonies, but we otherwise know little about him. Our research suggests that he is likely Victor Alberto Flores Garrido, born October 15, 1908 in Catacaos and died January 29, 1985 in Lima, but we have been unable to prove this conclusively.

Yesterday on Oldest Olympians, we announced the death of Edna Child, born October 16, 1922, who died in May. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living British Olympian, as well as the oldest living Olympic diver. As we have done in the past, therefore, we wanted to provide an update on who now holds those titles.

The oldest British Olympian is now Jack Whitford, born January 3, 1924, who recently turned 99. Whitford represented Great Britain in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was 21^st with the national team and had a best individual finish of joint-69^th in the pommelled horse. He was also chosen to take part in the 1948 London Olympics, but broke his arm prior to the competition and did not take part. His brother, Arthur, was a 10-time national champion, while Jack won three titles. His wife, Pat Evans, was also an Olympic gymnast and lived to be 93.

The oldest living Olympic diver is now Birte Christoffersen-Hanson, born March 28, 1924, who was already the oldest living Olympic medalist in diving, as well as the oldest living Olympian to have won a medal for Denmark. Christoffersen-Hanson represented Denmark as Brite Christoffersen until 1953, including at the 1948 London Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the platform event. She also took two bronze medals at the 1950 European Championships. From 1954 until her retirement in the 1960s, she represented Sweden as Birte Hanson, appearing twice more at the Olympics (1956 and 1960) and capturing one bronze (1958) and two silver medals (1954) at the European Championships. By career, she worked as a physical education instructor and now resides in Limhamn, Malmö.

Finally, we wanted to raise the case of Abdallah Sidani, born in 1923, whom we have believed to be the oldest living Lebanese Olympian and Olympic wrestler for many years. Unfortunately, we have not heard of any updates since 2015, when he was alive and living in Saudi Arabia and, without any announcement of a 100^th birthday, we have decided to remove him from the living list. With weightlifter Moustafa Laham, born October 21, 1929, who lived in the United States and whom we believed for some time to be still alive, having possibly died in August 2014, there is only one Lebanese Olympian remaining on our table: three-time Olympic alpine skier Jean Keyrouz, born in 1931. As for the oldest living Olympic wrestler, that distinction now goes to Pakistan’s Muhammad Ashraf, born October 11, 1927, who competed in the lightweight, freestyle event in 1956.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to look at a few more Olympic mysteries from our list, all of which are competitors who represented Switzerland. As a reminder, these are individuals for whom we believe that we have a date of death, but cannot confirm that the information is accurate or connect it to the Olympian with certainty.

Edgar Juillerat – Member of Switzerland’s weightlifting delegation to the 1924 Paris Olympics

Edgar Juillerat, born in 1887, represented Switzerland in the featherweight weightlifting tournament at the 1924 Paris Games, where he placed eighth. Unfortunately, we do not know anything else about his career or life, so we cannot confirm that the grave in Riehen for an Edgar Juillerat, born March 20, 1887 and died June 30, 1967, is for the Olympian.

Ernst Mumenthaler – Member of Switzerland’s wrestling delegation to the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics

Ernst Mumenthaler of Zürich represented Switzerland in the lightweight, Greco-Roman wrestling tournament at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, where he lost two bouts in a row and was eliminated after round two. In Mumenthaler’s case, we do not even have an approximate year of birth, although we do know that an Ernst Mumenthaler born in 1902 died in 1985 and may be the Olympian.

Alfred Jauch – Member of Switzerland’s wrestling delegation to the 1948 London Olympics

Alfred Jauch, like Mumenthaler, represented Switzerland as a lightweight, Greco-Roman wrestler, although he did so at the 1948 London Games and withdrew after round one. We know a little bit more about Jauch, however, who was the junior national champion in 1940 and a welterweight senior champion in 1951. We are not certain, however, if the Alfred Jauch born January 14, 1923 and died April 28, 2006, who is buried in Riehen, is the Olympian.

Willy Senn – Member of Switzerland’s athletics delegation to the 1948 London Olympics

Willy Senn of Basel, born February 25, 1920, represented Switzerland in the shot put at the 1948 London Games, where he placed 13^th overall. He also competed in that event at the 1954 European Championships and placed 23^rd. A Willy Senn born May 25, 1920 died October 27, 1989 and was buried in Basel, but we cannot yet be certain that this was the Olympian.

Finally, we have only one more Olympic mystery left on our list that we want to share, even though he is not Swiss. Mohamed Zulficar, born September 4, 1918, represented Egypt in five fencing events between two editions of the Games – 1948 and 1952 – with a best finish of fourth in the team foil at the latter edition. He was a silver medalist in the team sabre at the 1951 Mediterranean Games and won six bronze medals at the World Championships between 1947 and 1951. We found a note of gratitude from the family of the late Mohamed Zulficar Bey posted in Al-Ahram on September 24, 1980 but, as we have thus far been unable to locate the actual obituary, we cannot confirm that the deceased was the Olympian, even though it seems likely.

Recently, we have unfortunately noted the deaths of two more Olympians, Zdeněk Košta and Renyldo Ferreira, who held multiple distinctions among the oldest Olympians. Košta was the oldest living Olympic cyclist and Olympian to have represented Czechoslovakia, while Ferreira was the oldest living Brazilian Olympian and the oldest survivor of the 1960 Rome Games. Given that these titles have now changed hands, we wanted to provide a brief update of who holds them now.

(Charles Coste)

The oldest living Olympic cyclist is now France’s Charles Coste, born February 8, 1924, who recently turned 99. He won gold in the team pursuit, 4000 metres event at the 1948 London Games and was already the oldest living French Olympic medalist and the oldest living Olympic cycling medalist. The oldest living Olympian to have represented Czechoslovakia is trickier. Růžena Košťálová, born February 21, 1924, is still alive according to this 2020 document from the Czech Olympic Committee. A comprehensive 2021 work by František Kolář, however, Encyklopedie olympioniků. Čeští a českoslovenští sportovci na olympijských hrác, lists her, on page 178, as having died in January 2013. Both sources seem very reliable, and thus it is plausible that either are mistaken, thus we have continued to list her as alive, although we cannot be entirely certain. If Košťálová were deceased, however, then 1952 gymnast Jindřich Mikulec, born May 11, 1928, would be the oldest living Olympian to have represented Czechoslovakia.

(Birte Christoffersen)

The oldest survivor of the 1960 Rome Games, meanwhile, is now Birte Christoffersen, born March 28, 1924, who represented Denmark in diving in 1948, winning a bronze medal on the platform, and then Sweden in 1956 and 1960. She is the oldest living Olympic medalist in diving, as well as the oldest living Olympian to have won a medal for Denmark. The oldest living Brazilian Olympian is Edson Perri, born June 5, 1928, who represented his country in the water polo tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games.

Finally, we have an update on one more Olympic mystery. Sergey Kalinin, born December 23, 1926, represented the Soviet Union in two editions of the Olympic trap shooting tournament, placing 22^nd in 1964, but winning bronze in 1960. We had previously believed that he was still alive, but were not certain, and our suspicions were verified when we learned that he had died October 17, 1997.

To keep up our momentum of blog posting, today on Oldest Olympians we wanted to look at boxers from the 1936 Berlin Olympics who did not start in their events. As non-starters, we often know less about these athletes than others, so we wanted to feature a few in this post to see if we can bring their contributions to the world of sport to greater light.

Three of the seven individuals that we are covering were members of the Peruvian delegation. Pedro Rodríguez did not start as a flyweight, and his name is so common that we have been unable to uncover any additional information about him. This is also the case for Máximo Valdez, who did not start the featherweight competition. Finally, Zacarías Flores was entered into the welterweight division, but did not compete. Flores turned professional after the Games and contested bouts through 1945, amassing a known record of 5-13-0. We do not, however, have any biographical details on him.

(José Llobera, pictured at BoxRec)

In that same division, Spain’s Antonio Zúñiga was also a non-starter. Zúñiga was the Spanish national welterweight champion in 1934 and 1935, and he had his first professional bout in 1939. In a career that lasted through 1942, he had a record of 11-5-1. José Llobera, whose surname is also seen as Llovera, was Spain’s entry in the featherweight division and he turned professional at the end of 1936. By his last bout in 1947, he had amassed a record of 40-10-2 and become fairly well-known, yet we were unable to uncover his biographical data.

In the lightweight division, José Portillo was one of two non-starters for Spain, the other being the better-known José García Álvarez. While we have biographical data on García, we know nothing about Portillo. Finally, Paulino Rodríguez, who did not start in the middleweight division, was from Irún and was 19 at the time of the Games. Although it is possible that he is alive, he is most likely deceased, although we do not know when.

While we are on the topic of Spanish-speaking nations, we wanted to thank Hernan Macchiavello, who discovered that Argentine cyclist Héctor Acosta, who we mentioned in the last blog post, died November 1, 1973 in Rosario. Finally, in an update to a much older blog post, we were able to confirm that the Mario Astaburuaga Ariztia, who was born on July 4, 1904 and died in 1951, was the Chilean Olympic swimmer from 1928.

As it has been a while since we covered new Olympic missing links, and since we want to keep up the momentum of blog posts, today on Oldest Olympians we are going to focus on Olympic missing links who were born in 1933. As a reminder, these are individuals for whom we believe that we have a date of death, but cannot confirm that the information is accurate or connect it to the Olympian with certainty.

Héctor Acosta – Member of Argentina’s cycling delegations to the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics

Héctor Acosta, born December 9, 1933, represented Argentina in two editions of the Olympic cycling tournament. In 1960, he was a member of the 4000 metres, team pursuit that was eliminated in the quarterfinals, while in 1964 he came in fourth in the 100 kilometers team time trial. He was also a three-time medalist at the Pan-American Games: gold and bronze in 1959 in the team road race and team 4000 metres pursuit respectively, and silver in the pursuit in 1963. Spanish Wikipedia has a year of death for him of 1978, but we have been unable to verify this.

Ulla Petersen – Member of Denmark’s equestrian delegations to the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics

Ulla Petersen, born May 27, 1933, represented Denmark in two editions of the Olympic equestrian dressage tournament. In 1972, she was 14^th individually and fourth with the team, while in 1976 she was eighth individually and sixth with the team. Ancestry.com lists an Ulla Merete Holm-Petersen (her full name) as having died in 2003 in Birkerød. This individual, however, has a year of birth of 1934, so while it seems very likely to be the Olympian, we cannot confirm it.

Iosif Szilaghi – Member of Romania’s fencing delegation to the 1960 Rome Olympics

Iosif Szilaghi, born October 10, 1933, represented Romania in the team foil fencing event at the 1960 Rome Games and was eliminated in round one. Someone on Wikipedia changed his year of birth to 1931 and added a date of death of September 21, 2022 in Bucharest, but did not provide a source, and we have been unable to find one.

Amar Singh Sokhi – Member of India’s cycling delegation to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics

Amar Singh Sokhi, born July 2, 1935, represented India in three cycling events at the 1964 Tokyo Games. He was eliminated in the first round of both the individual and team pursuit over 4000 metres on the track, while on the road the Indian team failed to finish the 100 kilometers time trial. Although he was born a few years off of 1933, it is possible that Szilaghi was as well, so we have decided to include him in this blog. Multiple sources confirm that Sokhi died prior to 2021, but the only clue we have to his exact date of death is a Wikipedia post that claims that he died July 13, 1993 in New Delhi.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to continue our streak of blogging by take a very brief look at art competitors from the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Specifically, we wanted to highlight the five artists for whom we have no biographical data, and who we have not yet covered on this blog.

(An art scroll by Suzuko Ito)

Two of the artists – Suzuko Ito and Takahiso Kato – represented Japan. We know a little about Ito, who entered a painting into an unknown event in 1936 and was a traditional artist who exhibited at several national exhibitions in Japan. About Kato, who submitted an ice hockey painting into an unknown category, we know nothing at all.

The other three are Europeans. The one about whom we know the most is German Hans Schlottmann, who was a construction manager for the well-known architect Werner March. He served in the military during World War II and became a Russian prisoner of war. Upon his return to Germany in 1949, he continued his architectural work, which was his field at the 1936 art competitions. We believe that he deceased, we just do not know when. For Hans Luckasch of Austria, who entered the compositions for orchestra competition, we know only that he had won a prize in Vienna a year earlier for one of his pieces. Yet we know the least about Jean-Pierre Romuald, who represented Belgium in one of the painting events and lived in Verviers.

Finally, thanks to Connor Mah, we now know the full biographical details of two Austrian women who competed at Berlin and were featured previously on Oldest Olympians. Therese Rampel, who was 16^th in the platform diving event, was actually Theresia Rampl, born January 14, 1906 and died July 19, 1969. Elli von Kropiwnicki, who was a member of the 4×100 metres freestyle relay team that was eliminated in round one, was born November 11, 1915, and went missing during World War II.