Older than Yvonne Chabot-Curtet

Several months ago we noted the death of French track and field athlete Yvonne Chabot-Curtet, born May 28, 1920, who was, to the best of our knowledge, the oldest living Olympian when she died on February 21. There are just under 2700 Olympians, non-starters, and demonstration event competitors born between 1915 and 1935 for whom we have no confirmation on whether they are alive or deceased, but today we want to focus on the 74 Olympians who would be older than Yvonne Chabot-Curtet if they were still alive.

It should be noted that discussing these individuals in no way represents any belief on the part of Oldest Olympians that these athletes are still alive; we simply cannot confirm that they are deceased. In fact, we find it highly unlikely that any Olympian who is between the age of 105 and 109 would have escaped our attention completely. It remains, however, an important caveat and is always a possibility: language barriers, poor media coverage of older athletes, and desire for privacy from a generation when the Games were not as big as they are now all contribute to the chance that someone may have eluded our radar. In the past, several Olympic centenarians have reached that milestone with little public fanfare, sometimes not being revealed until their death. We feel, therefore, that it is important to share this list to make our research methods a little more public and subject to scrutiny, perhaps solving a case or two along the way.

As mentioned in a previous post, the sole art competitor that meets the criteria, South African painter Ann Graham, was born September 22, 1915. Additionally, two non-starters, Egyptian footballer Hussein Ezzat and Japanese field hockey player Yasuo Ueno, were born in 1915. All 1915-born Olympians competed in 1936 Berlin Games and are thus potential survivors of the prewar Olympics as discussed in a previous post

(Junko Nishida represented Japan in the high jump)

1915

NameCountryEventBirthday
Hiroshi MatsunobuJapanGymnasticsOctober 15, 1915
Spyridon MavrogiorgosGreeceSwimming1915
Mitsuo MizutaniJapanWrestlingOctober 5, 1915
Uichi MunakataJapanBasketballNovember 26, 1915
Junko NishidaJapanAthleticsNovember 3, 1915
Konstantinos PantazisGreeceAthletics1915
Sadako YamamotoJapanAthleticsJuly 14, 1915

Japanese 1964 kendo demonstration competitor Minoru Kino was born in 1915 or 1916, while 1948 Korean football reserve Cha Sun-Jong and 1936 Japanese field hockey reserve Satoshi Muraoka were born in 1916.

(Saleh Mohamed, silver medalist for Egypt in featherweight weightlifting in 1936)

1916

NameCountryYearEventBirthday
Ricardo BraloArgentina1948AthleticsAugust 28, 1916
Yoichi EndoJapan1936RowingMarch 9, 1916
Tatsuo IchikawaJapan1936Ice hockeyFebruary 11, 1916
Masatatsu KitazawaJapan1936Ice hockeyApril 29, 1916
Fusako KonoJapan1936DivingJanuary 22, 1916
Aziz MalikPakistan1948, 1952, 1956Field hockeyApril 16, 1916
Daniel SandeArgentina1948, 1952, 1960FencingAugust 25, 1916
Saw HardyMyanmar1948Boxing1916
Saleh MohamedEgypt1936WeightliftingJune 24, 1916
Borbála SóthyHungary1936SwimmingDecember 21, 1916
Koichi WadaJapan1936Water poloJuly 25, 1916
Takehiko YanagiJapan1936Field hockeyMarch 28, 1916
Kenshichi YokoyamaJapan1936BasketballSeptember 22, 1916

Japan had two kendo competitors from the 1964 Tokyo Games that were born in either 1916 or 1917: Kotaro Oshima and Sosaku Yamashita.

(Scylla Venâncio represented Brazil in two swimming events at the 1936 Berlin Olympics)

1917

NameCountryYearEventBirthday
Jehangoo AminIndia1948Cycling1917
Richardos BrousalisGreece1936, 1948Swimming, water polo1917
Horacio CampiArgentina1952SailingNovember 26, 1917
Alfredo CarlomagnoArgentina1936BoxingSeptember 26, 1917
Helio CastroEl Salvador1968Sport shootingOctober 20, 1917
Chang Ri-JinJapan, Korea1936, 1948BasketballOctober 28, 1917
Gin Gang-HwanKorea1948AthleticsJanuary 7, 1917
Kosta HakimEgypt1936BoxingApril 17, 1917
Vangelis KouvelisGreece1948Cycling1917
Lie Eng SoeiIndonesia1960SailingMay 15, 1917
Qadri MahmudEgypt1936SwimmingOctober 8, 1917
Sajiro MiyamaJapan1936BoxingJanuary 20, 1917
Gurnam SinghIndia1948Athletics1917
Catherine StevensBelgium1936AthleticsAugust 7, 1917
Noboru UenoJapan1936AthleticsJanuary 8, 1917
Scylla VenâncioBrazil1936SwimmingMay 9, 1917
Jorge VidalArgentina1948Gymnasticsc.1917
Taichi YamadaJapan1936RowingFebruary 20, 1917
Misao YokotaJapan1932SwimmingFebruary 3, 1917
Bouchaib ZeroualMorocco1960Sport shooting1917

Non-starter Guilherme Rodrigues, a reserve with the 1948 Brazilian basketball squad, was born August 26, 1918.

(Ahmed Zahur Khan represented Pakistan in two track and field events at the 1948 London Games and carried the flag in the opening ceremony)

1918

NameCountryYearEventBirthday
Leopoldo BriolaArgentina1948WeightliftingDecember 23, 1918
Guillermo CancianiArgentina1936Sport shootingNovember 18, 1918
Souren ChowdhuryIndia1952Sport shootingJuly 25, 1918
Kim Won-GwonKorea1948AthleticsDecember 13, 1918
Giuseppe MolinariItaly1956Equestrian1918
Chhota SinghIndia1948Athletics1918
Daniel TrujilloVenezuela1968SailingMay 24, 1918
Yap Pow ThongMalaysia1964Sport shootingNovember 11, 1918
Ahmed Zahur KhanPakistan1948Athletics1918
Bram ZanellaVenezuela1960Sport shootingSeptember 27, 1918

(Gudrun Grömer represented Austria in the diving tournament at the 1948 London Games)

1919

NameCountryYearEventBirthday
Angela AnderesSwitzerland1936Figure skatingJuly 10, 1919
Germán BriceñoVenezuela1956Sport shootingAugust 13, 1919
Mahmoud FawzyEgypt1952WrestlingOctober 10, 1919
Gudrun GrömerAustria1948DivingNovember 7, 1919
Günter HeineGermany1952Water poloSeptember 8, 1919
Min Byeong-seonKorea1952Equestrian1919
Ítalo SartoriArgentina1948RowingNovember 29, 1919
Rei TakemuraJapan1936SwimmingApril 29, 1919
Alexandros VouxinosGreece1952, 1956Alpine skiingNovember 23, 1919

Kurakichi Chatani, a reserve team foil fencer for Japan at the 1960 Rome Games, was born January 11, 1920. Hideo Ichikawa, who was a reserve for Japan in field hockey at the same edition, was born February 23, 1920.

(Yukio Inokuma represented Japan in four rifle shooting events across three editions of the Games: 1952, 1956, and 1960.)

1920

NameCountryYearEventBirthday
Minna BlümlGermany1964LugeMay 17, 1920
Yukio InokumaJapan1952, 1956, 1960Sport shootingJanuary 2, 1920
Manuel SolísMexico1948CyclingMay 10, 1920
John StuartCanada1948WeightliftingJanuary 24, 1920

In a future entry, we will be looking into those Olympians who may still be alive and were born between Yvonne Chabot-Curtet and the current oldest living Olympian, Rhoda Wurtele. We hope that you will join us!

John De Saram and Don Sheff

Today on Oldest Olympians we again have the same two milestone birthdays, so we are continuing our tradition of providing blog post to cover both in lieu of choosing between them!

(John De Saram, pictured at the Daily News)

First, we are wishing Sri Lankan track athlete John De Saram a happy 96th birthday! De Saram represented his country at the 1948 London Olympics, where he was eliminated in the quarterfinals and round one of the 200 and 400 metres events respectively. He also competed at the 1950 British Empire Games, where his best finish was fourth in the 4×110 yards relay. He later had a lengthy career with the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs and the International Law Commission, and served as his country’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1998 to 2002. He is now the oldest living Sri Lankan Olympian!

(Don Sheff, pictured in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle on December 19, 1952)

Secondly, we want to wish American swimmer Don Sheff a happy 94rd birthday! Sheff represented the United States in the 4×200 metres freestyle relay at the 1952 Helsinki Games, which won gold. Because he only swam in the heats, however, he did not receive an actual medal due to the rules of the time. He also won several medals at the 1950 Maccabiah Games. Despite not winning a physical medal, he still competed, and thus we consider him the oldest living Olympic swimming champion!

Mystery Competitors from 1936

To wrap up our series of blog posts following the death of Iris Cummings as the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics, today Oldest Olympians completing its look into Olympians who competed at the 1936 Games. We have already covered the eisstockschießen players who have no date of birth, but there are 25 other non-starters and demonstration event competitors from 1936 for whom we lack biographical information but could, in theory, still be alive, as well as 14 art competitors. There are also 32 Olympians who competed in 1936 that could still be alive, but since all but two, Egyptian swimmer Fadl Ibrahim and Afghani field hockey player Abouwi Ahmad Shah, have known dates of birth, we will cover them when we review Olympians who could have been older than Yvonne Chabot-Curtet at the time of her death.

Before we list the remaining 1936 participants, however, we wanted to point to an additional Olympic mystery from that year: Afghani field hockey player Mian Faruq Shah. Shah, who had studied in Britain and earned a pilot’s license from that country, was Assistant Director of Agriculture and Sports Minister of Afghanistan in the mid-1930s, and also vice-captain of the hockey team. Anonymous editors have added a year of death of 2005 and a date of death of May 1, 2013 to his Wikipedia page at various times, but we have been unable to confirm either date.

Of the 14 art competitors from 1936 who could, in theory, still be alive, only one, South African painter Ann Graham, born September 22, 1915, has a known date of birth.

NameCountryCategory
Josef BauerCzechoslovakiaArchitecture
ChiffreYugoslaviaMusic
Piero FervelliItalyPainting
Guglielmo GiulianiItalyArchitecture
Suzuko ItoJapanPainting
JerryCzechoslovakiaLiterature
Takahisa KatoJapanPainting
František KoubekCzechoslovakiaMusic
Hans LuckaschAustriaMusic
Karel MartínekCzechoslovakiaArchitecture
Jaroslav NedvědCzechoslovakiaArchitecture
Egon PlefkaCzechoslovakiaArchitecture
Jean-Pierre RomualdBelgiumPainting

(José Llovera, pictured at BoxRec)

Of the 25 non-starters and demonstration event competitors from 1936 who could still be alive, three have known years of birth. Egyptian footballer Hussein Ezzat and Japanese field hockey player Yasuo Ueno were born in 1915, while another Japanese hockey player, Satoshi Muraoka, was born in 1916.

NameCountryEvent
Emil AngelescuRomaniaNon-starter in the four-man bobsleigh
Dinu CesianoRomaniaNon-starter in the fencing tournament
Zacarías FloresPeruNon-starter in the welterweight boxing tournament
GerbrechtGermanyParticipant in the demonstration gliding event
Franz HiermannAustriaParticipant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Josef JauchSwitzerlandParticipant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Branko KaradjoleYugoslaviaNon-starter in coxed fours rowing
Peter von LerchAustriaParticipant in the demonstration gliding event
José LloveraSpainNon-starter in the featherweight boxing tournament
Jean MorandFranceParticipant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Mario PeselliItalyParticipant in the demonstration gliding event
Teodor PopescuRomaniaNon-starter in the four-man bobsleigh
José PortilloSpainNon-starter in the lightweight boxing tournament
Jean PydychPolandParticipant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Pedro RodríguezPeruNon-starter in the flyweight boxing tournament
Constantin RosettiRomaniaNon-starter in the fencing tournament
Adam RzepkaPolandParticipant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Aleksandar StanojevićYugoslaviaParticipant in the demonstration gliding event
Alexandru TăutuRomaniaNon-starter in the four-man bobsleigh
Máximo ValdezPeruNon-starter in the featherweight boxing tournament
Eduard WaserSwitzerlandParticipant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Antonio ZúñigaSpainNon-starter in the welterweight boxing tournament

Günther Haase and Daniel Dagallier

Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays as last year, so it is time for another blog post to cover them both in lieu of choosing between them!

First, we are wishing Günther Haase a happy 100th birthday! Haase represented his country at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where he won a bronze medal in platform diving. Two years earlier, he had won that event at the 1950 European Championships, and in total he collected eight national titles between 1943 and 1956. He later moved to the United States with his wife, also a German national champion in diving, and now resides in Florida as the oldest living German Olympic medalist.

Second, French fencer Daniel Dagallier is turning 99 today! In addition to his team bronze medal from the 1956 Summer Olympics, Dagallier won five team medals – one gold and two each of silver and bronze – in the event at the World Championships between 1951 and 1958, and also took gold at the 1955 Mediterranean Games. He is now the oldest living Olympic fencing medalist.

(Hans Schachinger)

Additionally, we wanted to provide an update on a competitor that we have covered twice before: Connor Mah was able locate records to confirm that Dutch gymnast Klara Post did die on January 12, 2022. Finally, we mentioned previously that Austrian sailor Hans Schachinger died in 1978. Further records located by Mah demonstrated that Schachinger was born June 1, 1921 and died August 11, 1970, with 1978 being the year of his burial.

Joaquim Granger and Frank Shakespeare

Today on Oldest Olympians we have another two milestone birthdays so, as usual, we are celebrating both of them in a single post!

First, we are wishing a happy 97th birthday to Joaquim Granger, the oldest living Portuguese Olympian! Granger represented his country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was 23rd with his team in the all-around and had a best individual finish of 107th on the rings. He later worked as a physical education professor.

Second, we want to wish a happy 95th birthday to Frank Shakespeare, the oldest living Olympic champion from the United States! Shakespeare represented his country in rowing’s eights event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, which was won by the Americans. During this time, he was a student in officer training at the United States Naval Academy.

(Willy Hufschmid, pictured in Turnen und Handball: 100 Jahre RTV Basel 1879)

Finally, while we have a little space, we wanted to provide updates on three of our past Olympic medal mysteries. First, Willy Hufschmid, born October 9, 1918, who won a bronze medal with the Swiss handball team at the 1936 Berlin Games, died December 12, 1996. Second, we have learned that John Rungsted Sørensen, born October 5, 1934, who represented Denmark in the C-2 1000 event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and won a bronze medal, did reach his 90th birthday, but died three weeks later on October 26, 2024. Finally, Enzo Polito, born October 29, 1926, who won a bronze medal with the Italian water polo squad at the 1952 Helsinki Games, died February 27, 2004 at the age of 77.

Update to Olympic Ice Stock Sport Players

Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to provide an update to eisstockschießen, the demonstration sport from the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics that had many competitors with missing biographical details. Thanks to new research Connor Mah, however, we can now fill in some of those gaps.

(Georg Edenhauser (left) and Friedrich Mosshammer (right))

To start off with the winner of the distance shooting event, and on a sad note, we have learned that Austrian Georg Edenhauser was born January 12, 1911 and completed suicide less than a year after his victory, on January 26, 1937. We also now know that the runner-up in that event, his compatriot Friedrich Mosshammer, was born July 15, 1895. The winner of the target shooting event that was open to all nations, Ignaz Reiterer, also of Austria, was born July 27, 1887 and died July 31, 1944.

(Wilhelm Silbermayr)

For the winning Austrians for the team event, we now know additional dates of birth: Wilhelm Silbermayr was born September 13, 1880, Anton Ritzl and his brother Otto were born October 18, 1894 and March 22, 1898 respectively, and Wilhelm Pichler was born May 19, 1897. For their compatriots from the third-placed team, we now have full biographical details for Friedrich Schieg, born February 14, 1877 and died November 20, 1970, as well as a date of birth for Hubert Lödler, October 31, 1906. For other full biographical information for Austrians, we now have August Ischepp born September 1, 1900 and died February 8, 1968; Josef Kleewein born May 24, 1890 and died June 8, 1941; and Anton Schaffernak born January 12, 1899 and died February 3, 1981. Additionally, we now have a date of birth for Isidor Waitschacher: May 9, 1895.

We also have updates from Connor Mah on some of the Czechoslovakian players. Fritz Brade was born November 10, 1890 and died June 12, 1940, while Friedrich Feistner was born August 29, 1893 and died March 10, 1941. We also have three additional competitors whose dates of birth were uncovered: Friedrich Arnhold, born December 20, 1894; Rudolf Kopal, born July 3, 1893; and Karl Wolfinger, born November 27, 1887.

Finally, as we continue to follow up from the death of Iris Cummings as the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics, we note that the majority of the 1936 competitors for whom we could not confirm as alive deceased and have no date of birth are eisstockschießen players. Since we have covered them all in previous posts, we thought we would end this entry with a quick chart of those names.

(August Brunner)

NameCountry
Franz Xaver BachlGermany
Anton BaderGermany
Hans BauerGermany
Xaver BauerGermany
Bernhard BeckerGermany
Ruth BeckerGermany
Paul BeguschAustria
Hans BernhardtCzechoslovakia
Hans BielmeierGermany
August BrunnerGermany
Friedrich CzernichCzechoslovakia
Lisl DotzertGermany
Franz DürrGermany
Johann EibachGermany
Matthias EnzersbergerGermany
Otto EnzersbergerGermany
Ferdinand ErbGermany
Wilhelm FeistnerCzechoslovakia
Johann FichtlGermany
Hermann FuchsGermany
Martin GeisenhoferGermany
Sebastian GroeßGermany
Hans GroßmannCzechoslovakia
Hans HacklGermany
Josef HafnerAustria
Alois HaiderGermany
Otto HanffCzechoslovakia
Egon HärtlGermany
Alfred HeinCzechoslovakia
Lilli HerboldtGermany
Josef Hödl-SchlehoferAustria
Ida HolzerGermany
Herrmann JeddickeGermany
Anton JocherGermany
Lorenz JunkerGermany
Wilhelm KadelGermany
Hilde KaiserGermany
Josef KalkschmidAustria
Albert KarlGermany
Fritz KeckGermany
Hilde KeckGermany
Ida KellermannGermany
Englbert KigeleGermany
Franz KlarlGermany
Martha KnakGermany
Agnes KnudsenGermany
Josef KörnerGermany
Anton KrannerGermany
Josef KreitmeierGermany
Georg KronfeldnerGermany
Mathilde KronfeldnerGermany
Paula KülperGermany
Dora LandesGermany
Elise LandesGermany
Franz LawuggerAustria
Josef LechnerGermany
Josef LenzGermany
Elisabeth LuchterhandGermany
Georg LüftigerGermany
Josef MaierbruggerAustria
Josef MarxAustria
Karl MöbusGermany
Willi MohrGermany
Hans MoserGermany
Karl MöserGermany
Johann MrakitschAustria
Georg MüllerGermany
Josef NeunerGermany
Werner NiemeyerGermany
Roman OstermeierGermany
Johann OstlerGermany
Karl PfefferGermany
Kurt PfefferGermany
Max PfefferGermany
Theresia PfefferGermany
Rudolf RainerAustria
Josef RauferGermany
Otto ReisingerGermany
Ludwig RetzerGermany
Wolfgang RöckGermany
Hans SchwimmbeckGermany
Josef SeilmaierGermany
Lina StroblGermany
Ernst VoglerGermany
Rudolf WagnerAustria
Karl WeberGermany
Martha WeickelsdorferGermany
Maria WeinmüllerGermany
Eva WiedeGermany
Josef WirtGermany
Franz WörndleGermany
Heinrich WurstGermany
Franz ZaunerGermany
Hans ZellnerGermany

Miguel Seijas and Chiharu Igaya

Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays as last year, so we are again continuing our trend of covering both in a single blog post rather than choosing between them!

First, we want to wish a happy 95th birthday to Miguel Seijas, the oldest living Uruguayan Olympian! Seijas represented his country in the double sculls at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Games, winning bronze in the former and being eliminated in the round one repêchage in the latter.

Second, Chiharu Igaya is turning 94 as Japan’s oldest Olympic medalist! Igaya represented his country in nine alpine skiing events across three editions of the Games – 1952, 1956, and 1960 – and won a silver medal in the slalom in 1956. He also took bronze at the World Championships in that event in 1958. By career he worked in insurance, but also served in sport administration, most notably as a member of the IOC since 1982.

Kugelstosser Willy Senn, 1950 (Photo by RDB/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

(Willy Senn)

Finally, we were able to confirm that the Rico Bianchi who died March 26, and who we mentioned in our last blog entry, was the Swiss silver medal-winning Olympian. We can also add Willy Senn to the list of Swiss updates, as Connor Mah was able to confirm him as being born May 25, 1920 and dying on October 27, 1989, as we suspected in an earlier blog post.

Tony Nunn

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that British field hockey player Tony Nunn, born May 24, 1927, died May 7 at the age of 97. Nunn represented his country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a bronze medal. Domestically, he played for the Hawks Hockey Club.

(Sheila Lerwill, pictured at The Streatham Society)

At the time of his death, Nunn was the oldest living British Olympic medalist and Olympic medalist in field hockey. The former distinction now goes to Sheila Lerwill, born August 16, 1928, who won a silver medal for Great Britain in the high jump at the 1952 Helsinki Games. She captured that title at the 1950 European Championships and came in fourth at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. After coming in fifth at that year’s Europeans, she retired from active competition. She was already the oldest living medalist in track and field athletics.

The latter titleholder is now Eric Pearce, born October 29, 1931. Pearce represented Australia at four consecutive editions of the Games – 1956 through 1968 – and won bronze in 1964 and silver in 1968. Three of his brothers also represented Australia in Olympic field hockey, as did his daughter Colleen in 1984.

Additionally, while we are posting, we were prepared to mention the 95th birthday of Swiss rower Rico Bianchi on May 13, as he was believed to be the oldest living Swiss Olympic medalist. He took silver in the coxed fours at the 1952 Helsinki Games and also competed in the eights in 1960. There are unconfirmed reports, however, that he may have died March 26, which we have yet to verify. If he were deceased, another rower, André Moccand, born January 25, 1931, who took silver in the coxed fours in 1948, would be the oldest living Swiss Olympic medalist.

(Jacques Simon)

Finally, to complete the list of Connor Mah’s discoveries about 1928 Olympians, we have four Olympians for whom we have additional birth information. French field hockey player Jacques Simon was born August 23, 1903 and was still alive in 1970. Swiss water polo player Robert Hürlimann was born March 26, 1905, while Swiss weightlifter Hermann Eichholzer was born June 15, 1903. As for Eichholzer’s weightlifting compatriot Ernst Trinkler, Mah was able to uncover that he was born in 1906.

Giuseppe Moioli

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Giuseppe Moioli, born August 8, 1927, died today, May 5, at the age of 97. Moioli won gold for Italy in rowing’s coxless fours event at the 1948 London Games, just missed the podium in fourth in 1956 Melbourne, and also competed in 1952 Helsinki. He was a five-time European champion in this event between 1947 and 1956, and also won with the eights in 1958, in addition to a coxless fours gold medal at the 1955 Mediterranean Games. He later worked as a coach.

At the time of his death, Moioli was the oldest living Italian Olympic medalist and the oldest living Olympic medalist in rowing. The former distinction now goes to Ennio Mattarelli, born August 5, 1928, who was already the oldest living Olympic sport shooting medalist. Mattarelli represented Italy in the trap event at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where he won the gold medal. He also competed in 1968, where he was 27th, and won seven medals – three of them gold – at the World Championships between 1961 and 1974. He later worked as a coach and opened a business that manufactured clay pigeon launchers.

The oldest living Olympic medalist in rowing is now Neville Howell, born December 17, 1929. Howell represented Australia in the eights at the 1956 Melbourne Games and won bronze. He was a gold medalist in that event at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and also competed in the coxed pairs at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where he was eliminated in the round one repêchage. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2020 for his lifetime of community service, and he was already the oldest living Australian Olympic medalist.

(Charles Six)

While we are blogging, we wanted to update a handful of deaths discovered by Connor Mah from the list that we provided a few entries ago about 1928 Olympians for whom we had no biographical data. French field hockey player Charles Six was actually Albert Charles Six, born December 18, 1901 and died March 11, 1987. Swiss field hockey player Charles Piot was born in 1901 and died in October 1990. Swiss water polo player Ernest Hüttenmoser was actually Ernst Hüttenmoser, born August 8, 1908 and died May 27, 1980. Swiss weightlifter Franz Riederer was born August 31, 1897 and died December 31, 1963. Finally, we have updated data on two Swiss wrestlers: Isidor Bieri was born June 5, 1905 and died July 29, 1983, while Max Studer was born September 17, 1899 and died April 30, 1957.

Max Bolkart, Mariya Shubina, and Ferenc Mohácsi

Today on Oldest Olympians, we want to cover three recent deaths of Olympic titleholders. The first is German ski jumper Max Bolkart, born July 29, 1932, who died April 26 at the age of 92. Bolkart represented Germany in three editions of the Olympic ski jumping tournament, 1956 through 1964, and just missed the podium in the large hill in 1956 when he finished fourth. Domestically, he was West German champion four times during that period and later worked as a coach, machine fitter, and hotel owner.

At the time of his death, Bolkart was the oldest living Olympic ski jumper, a distinction that now goes to Enzo Perin, born August 10, 1933. Perin represented Italy in the Nordic combined in the same three editions, but also took part in the ski jumping tournament in 1956 and 1960. His best finish overall was 14th in the Nordic combined in 1960.

Next, Oldest Olympians was saddened to learn of the deaths of two Olympic canoers. First, Mariya Shubina, born May 8, 1930, died April 20 at the age of 94. Shubina represented the Soviet Union in the K-2 500 at the 1960 Rome Games and won gold. Although this was her only Olympic appearance, between 1959 and 1967 she was a three-time European, four-time world, and ten-time national champion across various disciplines, and also won an additional silver medal at the Europeans and two at the Worlds. By career she was a biologist and earned her PhD in 1975.

The second was Ferenc Mohácsi, born October 25, 1929, who died April 29 at the age of 95. Mohácsi took bronze in the C-2 1000 at the 1956 Melbourne Games for Hungary. During his career, he took part in numerous sports and earned a degree in physical education. He later worked on the administrative side of sport. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic canoeing medalist, while Shubina was the oldest living Olympic canoeing champion.

(Jean Laudet, pictured in the center at Histoire du Canoë)

These titles now combine into one individual, France’s Jean Laudet, born August 5, 1930. Laudet represented his country in the C-2 10,000 metres event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, alongside Georges Turlier (another of the oldest Olympians), and took home the gold medal. He later worked as an antiquarian.

Finally, in continuing to share the information uncovered by Connor Mah on 1928 competitors, we wanted to highlight a new discovery in skijoring. We now know that Rudolf Wettstein, who won the demonstration event in St. Moritz, was born July 7, 1888 and died April 28, 1952.

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