Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Birte Christoffersen-Hanson, born March 28, 1924, who represented both Denmark and Sweden in diving, died February 23 at the age of 101. 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.

(Harry Nielsen, pictured at the Aarhus Roklub)

At the time of her death, Christoffersen-Hanson was the oldest living Danish and Swedish Olympian, as well as the oldest survivor of the 1960 Rome Games. For Denmark, the new oldest Olympian is Harry Nielsen, born October 31, 1930, who represented his country in coxless fours rowing at the 1952 Helsinki Games. Since Christoffersen-Hanson was a medalist, however, Denmark also has a new oldest living Olympic podium finisher in Tove Søby, born January 23, 1933. Søby won a bronze medal for her nation in the K-1 500 canoeing event at the 1956 Melbourne Games, as well as at the 1954 World Championships.

Sweden’s new oldest Olympian, meanwhile, is 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 one year earlier at the 1971 European Championships. She was already Sweden’s oldest living Olympic medalist, as well as the oldest living Olympic medalist in equestrian.

Additionally, the oldest survivor of the 1960 Rome Games is now Ninel Krutova, born January 3, 1926. Krutova represented the Soviet Union in five diving events across three editions of the Games – 1952 through 1960 – and took bronze in the platform at the final tournament. She was European springboard champion in 1958 and platform runner-up in 1962, and a 13-time Soviet champion. She later worked as a coach.

Finally, as an update to an older Danish Olympic mystery, we originally believed that Equestrian Ulla Petersen, born May 27, 1933, may have died in 2003 in Birkerød. Research by Connor Mah, however, demonstrated that she actually died April 29, 2005.

Oldest Olympians will once again be travelling with limited internet connectivity for the next week so, rather than miss an update, we have decided to post a blog entry today that will cover one Olympian for every day that we suspect we will be absent (February 19–27).

During this time, we will have four milestone birthdays, albeit spread over only two days. First, Egyptian rower Wagih El-Attar will turn 98 on February 22! El-Attar represented his country in the coxed fours rowing event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where Egypt was eliminated in the round one repêchage. He had better luck at the 1955 Mediterranean Games, where he captured bronze in the coxed pairs. He is now the oldest living Egyptian Olympian.

(Micheline Desmazières, pictured at La Voix du Nord)

We then have three milestone birthdays on February 23. First, French alpine skier Micheline Desmazières will be turning 100! Desmazières represented her country in the downhill at the 1948 St. Moritz Games, where she placed 29^th. She also competed in three events at the 1950 World Championships, while domestically she was a two-time national champion in the slalom (1947 and 1949).

Additionally, (West) German equestrian Harry Boldt will turn 96! Boldt competed in two editions of the Olympic dressage competition, representing unified Germany in 1964 in Tokyo and West Germany in 1976 in Montreal. Both times, he earned gold in the team competition and silver individually. At the World Championships, he earned silver individually in 1966 and gold with the team in 1966 and 1978, as well as team silver in 1970. He collected an additional 11 medals, five of them gold, at the European Championships between 1963 and 1979, and retired in 1980. He then served as a coach until 1996 and is now the oldest living German Olympic champion.

Our third birthday for the 23^rd comes courtesy of (East) German cyclist Gustav-Adolf Schur, who will be turning 95! Schur represented his country in four events across two editions of the Games, 1956 and 1960, winning bronze in the team road race at the former edition and silver in the 100 kilometers team time trial at the latter. He also captured numerous national titles and served as a politician from 1958 through 2002, taking a break only between 1990 and 1998 during the reunification of Germany.

Next, thanks to Wojciech Nowakowski, we received an update that Polish sport shooter Czesław Zając, born January 20, 1927, is still alive at the age of 99 as the oldest living Polish Olympian! Zając represented his country in the rapid-fire pistol, 25 metres event at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed seventh. He won a bronze medal in that event at the 1963 European Championships and captured 13 national titles across two disciplines between 1955 and 1966.

For the remaining entries, we want to highlight three of the oldest Olympians that we have not yet featured. First is French canoer Fredy Grosheny, born July 27, 1935. Grosheny represented France in the first round of the Kayak Relay, 4×500 metres event at the 1960 Rome Games, before being replaced by Jean Friquet. The team went on to be eliminated in the repêchage. We do not know much else about him, but he was still living as of his 86^th birthday in 2021.

Next we have Danish sport shooter Niels Petersen, born September 8, 1932. Petersen represented his country in the small-bore rifle, three positions and prone, 50 metres events at the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics, with a best finish of 13^th in the three positions in Tokyo. As with Grosheny, we could not find much additional information about him, but we do know that he was still alive in 2025 at the age of 93.

Finally, we are going to end with another Danish competitor, swimmer Gerda Olsen, born June 12, 1932. Olsen represented her country in the 100 metres backstroke at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she placed 14^th. She was also a reserve with the 4×100 metres freestyle relay, but did not take part in that event. She had better luck at the 1950 European Championships, where she took silver in the relay.

The tables will not be updated during our absence, but we look forward to returning on February 28 to continue cover the Oldest Olympians! We hope that you will join us!

Today Oldest Olympians is celebrating the same two milestone birthdays as last year! The first is French gymnast Colette Fanara who is turning 101 as the oldest French Olympian and oldest Olympic gymnast! Fanara represented her country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she had a best individual finish of 85th in the uneven bars. By career she was a physical education teacher and gymnastics instructor. Her grandson Thomas Fanara was a three-time Olympian in alpine skiing and Colette now resides in Nice.

(Carlos Caballero, pictured at El Heraldo)

Next, we are wishing a happy 99th birthday to Carlos Caballero, the oldest living Olympic weightlifter! Cabaellero represented Colombia in the middleweight division at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Games, but did not win a medal. He was also selected for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but did not make the trip after budget cuts. Following his 1970 retirement, he turned to coaching.

Finally, thanks again to Connor Mah, we have an update on another Olympic mystery. Gymnast Carol Bedö, born December 13, 1930, was potentially the oldest living Romanian Olympian, but we had not seen an update for him since 2013, and thus we removed him from our tables. It turns out that Bedö died February 3, 2020, at the age of 89.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Finnish sailor Freddy Ehrström, born August 29, 1925, died January 21 at the age of 100. Ehrström, alongside Rolf Zachariassen, represented his country in the Star class at the 1960 Rome Games, where the duo placed 14^th. Ehrström was a four-time national champion in this event (1952, 1959, 1960, and 1971) and later worked as an administrator and judge with the International Sailing Federation.

At the time of his death, Ehrström was the oldest living Finnish Olympian and oldest living Olympic sailor. The new titleholder in the former category is track and field athlete Rainer Pelkonen, born April 19, 1928. Pelkonen represented his country in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was eliminated in the quarter-finals. He was also selected for the 800 metres, but did not start the event. Domestically, he won 11 relay titles, as well as the hurdles title in 1952, and he later worked as a physical education teacher. He continued to compete at the masters’ level into his 80s.

In the latter category, the new titleholder is Australian Gordon Ingate, born March 29, 1926. Ingate represented his country in the Tempest class at the 1972 Munich Games, where he placed 19^th. That same year, he was runner-up to Ted Turner in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, but he continued competing in national championships into his 90s, even winning a Dragon class title in 2018 at the age of 91. He is also Australia’s oldest living Olympian.

Finally, as an update to a previous report on a potential Olympic centenarian, Connor Mah discovered that Yoshio Iimuro, born January 18, 1925, who was potentially the oldest living Japanese Olympian, actually died in October 2023. He therefore died at the age of 98 and did not become a centenarian.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we have two milestone birthdays to celebrate so, as usual, we are going to cover both in a single blog entry!

First, we are wishing a happy 100^th birthday to Trude Klecker, the oldest survivor of the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games! Klecker represented Austria in the downhill and the giant slalom in both 1952 and 1956, and just missed the podium in fourth in the giant slalom in 1952. She was more successful at the 1954 World Championships, where she won the slalom and took silver in the downhill. She was also a seven-time national champion across various disciplines, and later became a German language teacher.

We are also celebrating the 95^th birthday of Dick Deaver, the oldest living Olympic sailing medalist! Deaver represented the United States in the Dragon class at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where he won the bronze medal. By career, he was a sailmaker.

On the topic of the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games, we have an update on an Olympian that we discussed many years ago. Mahmoud Beiglou, born in 1929, represented Iran in three alpine skiing events at those Games and was still alive in 2010. By 2020, however, we had not seen further updates from him and thus removed him from our tables. As it turns out, however, Beiglou died well before turning 90, on January 18, 2013.

Today we were hoping to celebrate the 101^st birthday of Yoshio Iimuro as the oldest living Japanese Olympian and Olympic track and field athlete. Iimuro represented his country in the triple jump at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he placed sixth. He had better luck at the Asian Games, where he won gold in that event in 1951 and silver in 1954. Unfortunately, we have not seen any confirmation of his 100^th birthday and thus we have had to remove him from our lists.

(Masaji Tajima, pictured at Getty Images)

This leaves Masaji Tajima, born April 5, 1929, as the oldest living Japanese Olympian. Tajima represented his country in four events across two editions of the Games: the 100 metres and the long jump in 1952, and the 4×100 metres relay and the long jump in 1956. He was also an alternate in the 4×400 metres relay at the former edition. Tajima was a three-time Asian Games champion, winning the 4×100 metres relay in 1951 and 1954, and the long jump in 1951. He was the national champion in the long jump from 1950 through 1953.

As for the oldest living track and field athlete, that distinction now goes to André Marie of France, born October 14, 1925. Marie represented his country in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1948 London Games, where he failed to complete his semi-final heat. He had better luck at the 1950 European Championships, where he won the gold medal, and he later worked as an architectural designer, while also serving as an athletics administrator.

While we are blogging, we also wanted to mention a 1935 Olympic mystery that we missed in our last post. Pradip Bose, who was born c. 1935, represented India in cycling’s road race at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but failed to finish the course. This is all that we know about him, but an anonymous user added a date of death of January 20, 2023 to his (now removed) Wikipedia page. We have, however, been unable to confirm this.

Being a little bit behind in the new year, today Oldest Olympians is covering a handful of Olympic mysteries for individuals born in 1935 for whom we have some suggestion of their death, but cannot confirm the information.

First is British cyclist Joseph McLean, born July 30, 1935. McLean represented his country in the team pursuit, 4,000 metres event at the 1960 Rome Games, where the British squad was eliminated in round one. He also competed at the World Championships and the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1962. After that, we have little information on his life and career, although an anonymous user on Wikipedia added a date of death of March 19, 2024 and place of death of South Africa to his page. It was removed, however, as being unsourced, and we have not seen anything to prove it.

Next is Australian diver Barry Holmes, born August 17, 1935. Holmes represented his country in the platform event at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Games, placing 22^nd and 27^th respectively. We do not know much else about his life or career, but an anonymous Wikipedia editor claimed that he was the Barry Richard Holmes listed in the NSW Probate Index who died December 12, 2012. Since his middle initial is R., this is possible, but we have seen no concrete proof to connect the two.

Then we have Soviet fencer Yury Ivanov, born some time in 1935. Ivanov represented his nation in the team foil event at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where the Soviets were eliminated in the semi-finals. Due to his relatively common name, it is difficult to find any additional information on him, although someone added a year of death of 2022 to his English Wikipedia page, which we cannot confirm.

Up next is Pakistani swimmer Muhammad Bashir, born May 15, 1935. Bashir represented his country in the 200 metres breaststroke event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he placed 38^th. Like Ivanov, his common name makes it difficult to locate further information about him, and thus we cannot connect the grave of an individual with the same name and date of birth, who died July 21, 2022 in Ohio, to the Olympian.

We also have (West) German cyclist August Rieke, born May 26, 1935. Rieke represented a unified Germany in the sprint at the 1960 Rome Games, where he was eliminated in the quarter-finals. He won several national titles between 1959 and 1962, but never turned professional. We located the grave of an August Rieke, born in 1935 and died in 1995, who is buried in the same province of birth as the Olympian, but nothing to verify that this individual was the Olympian.

Finally, we are featuring Filipino wrestler Antonio T. Senosa, born November 18, 1935. Senosa represented his country as a featherweight at two editions of the Games, 1964 and 1968, in both categories at the former Olympics and in freestyle at the latter. An Antonio Senosa Tusaneza, born May 10, 1935, died January 18, 2006, which could align with the Olympian if our date of birth were incorrect, but we do not have the evidence to connect the two with certainty.

There are still many Olympic mysteries left to catch up on, but we will have to save those for another day. We hope you will join us!

Today on Oldest Olympians, we are finalizing our review of those Olympians who were last known living in 2014, which is down to six, as we solved one case in the interim. We also have two updates from earlier posts in this series. First, British track athlete Bob Shaw, born December 27, 1932, was still alive at the beginning of 2026. Meanwhile, Danish modern pentathlete Benny Schmidt, born June 25, 1929, was still alive at the beginning of 2025, but died later in the year, on June 6, at the age of 95.

To begin, we have Romanian cross-country skier Elena Zangor, born June 19, 1933. Zangor represented her country in the 3×5 kilometers relay at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games, in which the Romanian team was disqualified. We were able to locate a lengthy interview with her from 2014, but since then have seen no updates.

(Mitsuyuki Funamizu, pictured at Getty Images)

Next we have Japanese fencer Mitsuyuki Funamizu, born September 7, 1933. Funamizu represented his country in six events across two editions of the Games, 1960 and 1964, and was a reserve in a seventh. He was a multiple national champion and we have evidence of his being alive in 2014, but nothing after that.

Then we have British track athlete John Metcalf, born February 25, 1934. Metcalf represented his country in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1960 Rome Games, and was also a reserve with the 4×400 metres relay. He also competed at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, but retired from sport in 1961. He was still alive and living in Richmond, North Yorkshire in 2014, but we have no further information beyond that.

We then have Irish equestrian Diana Willson, born March 12, 1934. Willson represented her country in the eventing tournament at the 1968 Mexico City Games, where she was 26^th individually. We know that she was alive and living in England as of 2014, and while we believe her to still be alive as of 2025, we have not been able to locate any concrete proof.

Second to last is French ski jumper Robert Rey, born March 25, 1934. Rey represented his country in the large hill at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games, where he placed 38^th. Rey and his older brother Régis, also an Olympic ski jumper, were photographed at an event in 2014, and while Régis has since died, we have not seen an update on Robert since that photo, although he is not listed in the French death index and thus is likely still alive.

Finally, we have Thai athlete Pongummart Ummarttayakul, born April 14, 1934. Ummarttayakul represented his country in two track events at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and was a reserve in a third. He was later a high-ranking figure in the Royal Thai Police, and was still alive in 2014, but we have not seen any updates since then.

That covers all of those Olympians who were last known living in 2014! We hope that you will join us next time for a new topic!

Today on Oldest Olympians we have three milestone birthdays to celebrate so, for the first time in 2026, we are going to cover them all instead of choosing between them!

First, Yehuda Gafni is turning 96 as the oldest living Israeli Olympian! Gafni represented his country in the basketball tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where Israel was eliminated in the qualification round. He also competed at the 1953 European and 1954 World Championships, and won domestic league titles in 1954, 1955, and 1957. He then moved to the United States and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida.

Next, we are wishing José Julio Barillas a happy 94^th birthday as the oldest living Guatemalan Olympian! Barillas represented his country in the 100 and 200 metre dashes at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was eliminated in the first rounds of both events, and was also entered in the long jump, but did not start. By career he was a soccer player and physical education teacher, but later moved to New York and became active in the Guatemalan community while running a funeral home. He now resides in Ozone Park.

Additionally, we want to wish a happy 93^rd birthday to Héctor Román, the oldest living Puerto Rican Olympian! Román represented his country in the decathlon at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he placed 20^th. He was also entered into the triple jump and the 4×400 metres relay, but did not start. He had more success at the Central American and Caribbean Games, winning silver in the pentathlon in both 1954 and 1959.

(Ben Nighthorse Campbell)

Finally, Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that American judoka Ben Nighthorse Campbell, born April 13, 1933, died December 30 at the age of 92. Campbell represented his country in the open class tournament at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where he placed sixth. He had won gold in that even at the 1963 Pan American Games, and he later became a two-term United States senator from Colorado. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic judoka, a distinction now held by France’s André Bourreau, born December 3, 1934, who took part in the lightweight event at those same Games.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn of the recent deaths of two French titleholders, the first of which is fencer Daniel Dagallier, born June 11, 1926, who died December 2 at the age of 99. 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. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic fencing medalist and the oldest living French Olympic medalist overall.

The oldest living Olympic fencing medalist is now Michael Howard, born December 24, 1928. Howard represented Great Britain at three editions of the Games, 1956-1964, and took silver with the épée team in 1960. He was a bronze medalist in that event at the 1957 World Championships and twice British Empire and Commonwealth Games champion, in 1958 and 1962.

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

The title of oldest living French Olympic medalist then went to Jean Laudet, born August 5, 1930, who was already the oldest living French Olympic champion and Olympic canoeing medalist. 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.

(Georges Turlier)

Unfortunately, Laudet died December 20 at the age of 95, which again changed the titles. The new oldest French Olympic medalist is Jacqueline Du Bief, born December 4, 1930, who took bronze in the women’s singles figure skating event at the 1952 Oslo Games. The new oldest living French Olympic and Olympic canoeing champion, meanwhile, is Laudet’s partner Georges Turlier, born July 16, 1931.