Today Oldest Olympians is returning to Iris Cummings, born December 21, 1920, who died January 24 as the last survivor of the 1936 Berlin Games, making her the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics. Over the years, we have mentioned many Olympians from the 1928, 1932, and 1936 Games whom we could not confirm as deceased, but with no reports of survivors following Cummings’ death, we suspect that she was truly the last.
Of the 214 individuals without a known date of birth that competed in those editions, but we could not prove as either living or deceased, 58 were from 1928. Since any survivors would have had to be pre-teens to still be alive, it is probably safe to assume that they are all deceased. Thus we wanted to use this post to present those names that we were unable to learn more about.

Name | Notes |
Michel Baur | Member of the France 1 four/five man bobsleigh |
G. H. Bellut | Reserve for France in the modern pentathlon |
A. Bié | Reserve with the French field hockey team |
Isidor Bieri | Featherweight Greco-Roman wrestler for Switzerland |
Brander | Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland |
J. Brun | Reserve with the Swiss field hockey team |
Peter Conrad | Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland |
Hermann Eichholzer | Middleweight weightlifter for Switzerland |
F. Fischer | Member of the Swiss field hockey team |
Joseph Fischler | Member of the Swiss team pursuit, 4,000 metres squad |
Robert Frédéric | Lightweight reserve with the French boxing delegation |
Otto Frei | Middleweight Greco-Roman wrestler for Switzerland |
Simon Frey | Swiss art competitor |
Wilhelm Gasser | Heavyweight weightlifter for Switzerland |
Robert Frédéric | Middleweight reserve with the French boxing delegation |
Louis Giobergia | Member of Monaco’s coxed fours rowing squad |
M. L. Guirard | Reserve with the French field hockey team |
Hubert Guyard | Member of the French tandem sprint, 2,000 metres squad |
Ion Haidu | Romanian decathlete |
Anton Huber | Member of Germany’s 6 metres-class sailing crew |
Auguste Hummel | Flyweight reserve with the French boxing delegation |
Robert Hürlimann | Member of the Swiss water polo team |
Ernest Hüttenmoser | Member of the Swiss water polo team |
Kinichiro Ishii | Japanese single sculls rower |
Fred Jenny | Member of the Swiss field hockey team |
H. J. Ken | Austrian art competitor |
Adalbert Koch | Member of the Swiss field hockey team |
Fritz Kuhn | Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland |
Fritz Lincke | Reserve with the German field hockey team |
J. Loubert | Member of the Swiss field hockey team |
Maurice Magnin | Member of the Swiss field hockey team |
F. Mordasini | Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland |
Saul Moyal | Egyptian foil and épée fencer |
P. Neymann | Reserve with the German cycling delegation |
Roland Olivier | Member of the Swiss field hockey team |
G. Périer | Member of France’s military ski patrol team |
Charles Piot | Member of the Swiss field hockey team |
Karl Max Reinhardt | Member of the Germany 1 four/five man bobsleigh |
Jean Rémusat | Reserve with the French field hockey team |
Franz Riederer | Heavyweight weightlifter for Switzerland |
Jacques Rivière | Member of the French field hockey team |
Otto Rothman | Romanian javelin thrower |
E. Ruchti | Reserve with the Swiss water polo team |
Tiberiu Rusu | Romanian high jumper |
Hachiro Sato | Member of Japan’s coxed fours rowing squad |
Eugène Schmitt | Member of France’s gymnastics delegation |
Fred Short | South African road race cyclist |
Olver Silva | Bantamweight reserve with the Argentine boxing delegation |
Jacques Simon | Member of the French field hockey team |
Charles Six | Member of the French field hockey team |
Tsukasa Sonobe | Member of Japan’s coxed fours rowing squad |
Max Studer | Light-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler for Switzerland |
Max Thommen | Reserve with the Swiss equestrian delegation |
Ernst Trinkler | Middleweight weightlifter for Switzerland |
E. Tschümperly | Reserve with the Swiss water polo team |
Makoto Tsushida | Member of Japan’s coxed fours rowing squad |
Hermann Volz | Heavyweight weightlifter for Germany |
Rudolf Wettstein | Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland |
Our next post in this series will look into the 1932 and 1936 Games, so we hope that you will join us!