Today Oldest Olympians is looking at a new pairing of milestone birthdays, for which we have decided to cover together in a single blog entry!

(Percy Knowles, pictured at The Nassau Guardian)

First, we are wishing a happy 95^th birthday to Percy Knowles, the oldest living Bahamian Olympian! Knowles represented his country in three sailing classes across four editions of the Games, 1960 through 1972, with a best finish of fifth in the Star class in 1968. A businessman by career, he also served as Commodore of the Nassau Yacht Club and competed in masters-level swimming events into his 80s.

Secondly, we are wishing a happy 91^st birthday to Lothar Milde, the oldest living Olympian to have represented East Germany as a separate entity! Milde competed in the discus throw at three consecutive editions of the Games, in 1960 and 1964 for a unified Germany, and in 1968 for an independent East German delegation, where he won the silver medal. He won six national titles between 1961 and 1971, and later served as a politician in East and reunified Germany.

(Günter Lörke)

While we are on the topic, it is worth mentioning two other East Germans that we have listed as Olympic mysteries. The first is Günter Lörke, born June 23, 1935, who won a silver medal for unified Germany in the 100 kilometers team time trial at the 1960 Rome Games. He captured a national team title in 1958, but we have been unable to locate confirmation that he is still alive. The other is Heinrich Hagen, born December 7, 1935, who came in 24^th in the marathon for unified Germany at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. A Find-a-Grave page lists someone with his name and birth year as having died in 2018, but we cannot determine if this individual was the Olympian.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we want to cover some recent deaths of Olympic titleholders. The most prominent of them was French cyclist Charles Coste, born February 8, 1924, who died October 30 at the age of 101. Coste’s brief amateur career after World War II was quite successful, beginning with his national title in the individual pursuit in 1947. In 1948 he joined Serge Blusson, Fernand Decanali, and Pierre Adam in winning a gold medal in the team pursuit, 4,000 metres event at that year’s London Olympics, and followed that up with an individual pursuit bronze at the World Championships later that year. He then raced as a professional for a decade, notching up several major victories and competing in many more of Europe’s biggest tours.

(Nikita Simonyan)

At the time of his death, Coste was most notably the oldest living Olympic champion, a distinction that now goes to Soviet footballer Nikita Simonyan, born October 12, 1926, who was a member of the squad that won the tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Coste also shared a birthday with Wu Chengzhang, who is now the oldest survivor of the 1948 London Olympics, as he represented China in the basketball tournament.

(Colette Fanara)

Formerly the oldest living French Olympian, Coste’s successor in that regard is French gymnast Colette Fanara, born February 15, 1925, who competed at the 1952 Helsinki Games. The oldest living French Olympic medallist is Daniel Dagallier, born June 11, 1926, who took part in épée fencing at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Games, and won bronze in the team event at the latter edition. The oldest living French Olympic champion is now Jean Laudet, born August 5, 1930, who won the C-2 10,000 canoeing event in 1952.

(James Lauf)

Finally, Coste was also the oldest living Olympic cyclist, a distinction that now goes to American James Lauf, born November 1, 1927, who competed in the team pursuit, 4,000 metres event at the 1952 Helsinki Games. The oldest living Olympic cycling medalist is now Germany’s Gustav-Adolf Schur, born February 23, 1931, who won bronze in the team road race in 1956 and silver in the 100 kilometers team time trial in 1960. The oldest living Olympic cycling champion, Michel Vermeulin, born September 6, 1934, also represented France, but is over a decade younger than Coste.

(Günther Twiesselmann)

We also learned that German rower Günther Twiesselmann, born August 15, 1925, died September 24 at the age of 100. Twiesselmann represented Germany in the coxed fours at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was eliminated in the first round repêchage. Domestically, he won four titles in that event from 1949 through 1952, as well as a coxless fours title in 1951. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic rower, a distinction that now belongs to Tony Purssell, born July 5, 1926, who represented Great Britain in the coxed fours at the 1948 London Games.

(Reg Gaffley)

Additionally, we were saddened to learn of the death of an Olympian who went beneath our radar: South African weightlifter Reg Gaffley, born September 1, 1927, died August 1 at the age of 97. Gaffley represented his country in the bantamweight division at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where he placed seventh. Two years later he captured that title at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Although we did not know it, he was the oldest living Olympian to have represented South Africa at the time of his death, which leaves that distinction to silver medal-winning track athlete Daphne Robb-Hasenjäger, born July 2, 1929.

Finally, a year has passed and we were unable to confirm the 100^th birthday of Pakistani field hockey player Anwar Baig, who was born in November 1924 and represented his country in the tournament at the 1948 London Olympics, and thus we have removed him from our tables. This leaves Muhammad Ashraf, born October 11, 1927, who competed in the lightweight, freestyle wrestling tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games, as the oldest living Olympian to have represented Pakistan. Baig was also the oldest living Olympic field hockey player, a title that now goes to 1960 Danish player Villy Moll Nielsen, born November 22, 1927.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Belgian boxer Ferdinand Bothy, born March 23, 1926, died October 21 at the age of 99. Bothy represented his country as a heavyweight at the 1948 London Games, where he was eliminated in round two. He then had a brief career as a professional in 1949, earning a 4-2-0 record, before retiring from the sport. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Belgian Olympian.

We next believed that rower Florent Caers, born November 17, 1928, was the new oldest Belgian Olympian. Caers represented his country in the coxless fours at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where his crew was eliminated in the semi-finals repêchage. He was still alive as of 2023 but, following Bothy’s death, we received a note that Caers had died on September 19, 2024, and so was never the oldest living Belgian Olympian.

(Yvonne Van Bets, pictured at kasskrabber)

This means that gymnast Yvonne Van Bets, born December 14, 1928, is the new oldest Belgian Olympian. Van Bets represented her country in the tournament at the 1948 London Games, placing 11^th with the team. She also competed at the 1950 World Championships and later became a coach, after a severe hand injury in 1953 ended her competitive career.

Finally, on the topic of Belgium, we featured Belgian sailor A. J. J. Fridt, who competed in the 6 metres class at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, as an Olympic mystery a while ago. Thanks to research from Connor Mah, we now know that he was Armand Fridt, born March 10, 1899 and died January 20, 1969. We also have a new Olympic mystery in Marcel Lambrechts, born May 4, 1931, who represented Belgium in four track events across two editions of the Games, 1956 and 1960. We used to have him on our list of oldest living Olympians, as he was known to be alive as recently as 2016. Someone added a date of death of June 4, 2022 to his Dutch Wikipedia article, however, and while we have not been able to verify this, we have removed him from our tables until proof one way or another can be found.

Today we believe that the oldest living Romanian Olympian, Francisc Horvath, is celebrating his 97^th birthday. We featured Horvath in our Olympic medal mysteries series some time ago, as he won bronze in bantamweight, Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1956 Melbourne Games. In response, one reader provided a report that showed him alive in 2021, but others have pointed out sources claiming that he died in 1969 or 1980, and it remains unclear which is correct. Nonetheless, since there is a reasonable chance that he is still alive, we are wishing him a happy birthday!

(Gebhard Büchel’s obituary)

Additionally, while we are blogging, we wanted to thank Horacio Hernan Macchiavello, who solved some of our Olympic mysteries regarding Olympians possibly older than Rhoda Wurtele. Thanks to him, we now know that Argentinian sailor Boris Belada, born September 29, 1920, died in 2000, and his compatriot Óscar Cervo, a sport shooter born October 6, 1920, died in 1984. Chilean boxer Manuel Videla was born in 1920 and died July 23, 1993, while Argentinian field hockey player Carlos Mercali was born in 1921 and died June 10, 1976. Finally, thanks to another reader of the blog, we now know that Liechtenstein track and field athlete Gebhard Büchel was actually born July 22, 1921 and died May 31, 2011, before reaching the age of 90.

Oldest Olympians blogging is back after a short break and has the same two milestone birthdays to celebrate as last year. Thus, rather than choose between them, we are featuring both in a single entry!

(Muhammad Ashraf, pictured at SBS Urdu)

First, we are wishing a happy 98th birthday to Muhammad Ashraf, the oldest living Olympic wrestler! Ashraf represented Pakistan at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in round four of the lightweight, freestyle event. He did win gold medals in this category at the 1958 and 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, in addition to bronze at the 1954 Asian Games. He coached the national team from 1960 through 1972 and then moved to Australia to run their wrestling squad. He now resides in Adelaide.

Secondly, British speed skater Henry Howes is turning 97 as the oldest living Olympic speed skater! Howes represented his country in four events at the 1948 St. Moritz Games, with a best finish of 18th in the 1500 metres. He won four national titles between 1946 and 1950 and now resides in Staines, Sussex.

Following up on a previous post, today on Oldest Olympians we are looking into those Olympians who may still be alive and were born between Yvonne Chabot-Curtet, the former Oldest Olympian titleholder, and the current oldest living Olympian, Rhoda Wurtele. There are 58 Olympians who fall into this category, as well as 10 demonstration event competitors and non-starters. There is also one art competitor, Wilhelm Andreas Herdey, born January 4, 1922, who represented Austria in the architecture competition in 1948. As a reminder, 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.

1920

Name	Country	Year	Event	Birthday
Hassan Abdel Fattah	India	1952	Athletics	October 23, 1920
Boris Belada	Argentina	1956, 1968	Sailing	September 29, 1920
Carlos Braga	Portugal	1960	Sailing	December 4, 1920
Alfonso Castañeda	Mexico	1956	Sport shooting	1920
Óscar Cervo	Argentina	1952, 1956, 1960, 1968	Sport shooting	October 6, 1920
P. S. Cheema	India	1960	Sport shooting	September 26, 1920
Emil Grub	Switzerland	1948	Field hockey	November 17, 1920
Abdul Ghafoor Khan	Pakistan	1948	Field hockey	1920
Silvio Merlo	Argentina	1948	Sailing	December 6, 1920
Rolando Mosqueira	Chile	1952	Equestrian	September 30, 1920
Supaat Nadarajah	Malaya	1956	Field hockey	1920
Mahmud Osman	Egypt	1948, 1952	Wrestling	July 10, 1920
Pedro Otero	Cuba	1948	Basketball	June 20, 1920
Marianne Schläger	Austria	1948	Athletics	November 22, 1920
Sein Pe	Myanmar	1948	Athletics	1920
Isamu Shiraishi	Japan	1952	Weightlifting	December 18, 1920
Rodrigo da Silveira	Portugal	1956	Equestrian	November 22, 1920
Karl-August Stolze	Germany	1960, 1968	Sailing	August 28, 1920
Tiến Vình	South Vietnam	1952	Boxing	October 1, 1920
Manuel Videla	Chile	1948	Boxing	c. 1920
Jaime Villafuerte	Philippines	1968	Sport shooting	August 26, 1920

Kiyotsugu Iho, who represented Japan in the kendo demonstration event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, was born in either 1919 or 1920. Óscar Arata, born c. 1920, was a reserve with the field hockey squad at the 1948 London Olympics. An Jong-Su, born December 7, 1920, was a reserve with the Korean football squad in 1948. Hans Mäder of Switzerland, born August 4, 1920, was a weightlifting non-starter at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

(Manuel Videla represented Chile in the featherweight boxing tournament at the 1948 London Olympics)

1921

Name	Country	Year	Event	Birthday
Mohammad Abdul Razzaq	Pakistan	1948	Field hockey	1921
Jahar Ahir	India	1948	Water polo	1921
Muhammad Aslam	Pakistan	1952, 1956	Athletics	October 10, 1921
João Azevedo	Portugal	1956	Equestrian	1921
Azmi Isma’il	United Arab Republic	1960	Water polo	1921
Gebhard Büchel	Liechtenstein	1948	Athletics	June 21, 1921
Chan Kooi Chye	Malaya	1960	Sport shooting	June 20, 1921
Charif Damage	Lebanon	1948, 1952	Wrestling	1921
Andrei Covaci	Romania	1952	Alpine skiing	November 23, 1921
Heinrich Enea	Romania	1956	Bobsleigh	December 18, 1921
Eduardo Estrada	Mexico	1948	Wrestling	October 12, 1921
Dionisio Fernández	Argentina	1948	Sport shooting	1921
Joaquín Hermida	Mexico	1964	Equestrian	August 16, 1921
Ivan Ivanov	Bulgaria	1952	Sport shooting	December 6, 1921
Lee Jong-Guk	South Korea	1948	Speed skating	December 15, 1921
Boris Lobashkov	Soviet Union	1952	Sailing	April 3, 1921
Ibrahim Mahgoub	Lebanon	1948	Wrestling	1921
Carlos Mercali	Argentina	1948	Field hockey	c. 1921
Mohamed Moussa	Egypt	1948, 1952	Wrestling	December 27, 1921
Agustín Muñiz	Uruguay	1948	Boxing	August 28, 1921
Jiří Novotný	Czechoslovakia	1948	Bobsleigh	April 2, 1921
Lutz Peters	Germany	1952	Field hockey	March 31, 1921
Daniel Pon Mony	India	1948,1952	Weightlifting	August 12, 1921
Héctor Ruiz	Uruguay	1948	Basketball	c. 1921
Lukman Saketi	Indonesia	1956	Sport shooting	March 20, 1921
Karl Heinz Schäfer	Germany	1952	Canoeing	May 3, 1921
Karl Schmid	Switzerland	1952	Athletics	July 23, 1921
Hermann Schneider	Switzerland	1948	Boxing	1921
Nasser Sharifi	Iran	1964	Sport shooting	July 4, 1921
Remat Ullah Sheikh	Pakistan	1948	Field hockey	February 1921
Ernesto Silva	Chile	1952	Equestrian	May 4, 1921
Atanas Tasev	Bulgaria	1968	Sport shooting	May 24, 1921
Abebe Wakgira	Ethiopia	1960	Athletics	October 21, 1921
Win Maung	Myanmar	1948	Weightlifting	1921

Hideo Muto and Hatsue Takahashi were both kendo demonstration competitors for Japan at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics who were born in either 1920 or 1921. Parly Jensen, born January 31, 1921, was a reserve with the Danish artistic gymnastics squad in both 1948 and 1952. Albert Dzhartsans, born January 17, 1921, and Villy Emborg Nielsen, born September 8, 1921, were non-starters with the 1952 Soviet and 1948 Danish cycling teams respectively.

(Mohamed Moussa represented Egypt in wrestling at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics)

1922

Name	Country	Year	Event	Birthday
Vasile Ionescu	Romania	1948	Alpine skiing	January 1, 1922
Pyeon Chang-Nam	South Korea	1956	Speed skating	January 11, 1922
Rolf Stoltenberg	Germany	1952	Field hockey	January 8, 1922

Hikmet Alpaslan, born January 1, 1922, was a reserve with the Turkish football team at the 1948 London Olympics.

(Rolf Stoltenberg represented Germany in field hockey at the 1952 Helsinki Games)

This finally catches us up with this style of updates on Oldest Olympians, so tune in next time for something completely different!

Today we have the same two milestone birthdays among the Oldest Olympians as last year so, as is our tradition, we are combining them into a single blog post rather than choosing between them!

(The 1964 Hong Kong Olympic field hockey team, pictured at The Olympians)

First, we are wishing a happy 94^rd birthday to Lionel Guterres, the oldest living Olympian to have represented Hong Kong! Guterres was a member of Hong Kong’s field hockey delegation to the 1964 Tokyo Games, which finished last in its preliminary round pool and was eliminated. Guterres later emigrated to the United States and now lives in Vallejo, California.

We also want to wish a happy 93^nd birthday to Otto Ammermann, the oldest living Olympian to have represented a West German team, rather than a unified one! He did so in the eventing tournament at the 1976 Montreal Games and, while he was disqualified individually, he won a silver medal with the team. He had also taken team silver at the World Championships the year before and was West German champion in 1969, 1978, and 1980.

Finally, we have a quick update to share regarding one of our mystery 1936 art competitors. We have learned that Italian painter Piero Fervelli, for whom we previously had no biographical details, was born July 31, 1905 and died March 11, 1970, at the age of 64.

On August 28, we had two milestone birthdays to celebrate, but we were unable to post a blog entry. Thus, we wanted to wish a happy belated birthday to two Olympians today: Maria Golimowska and Leo Franciosi, both of whom turned 93!

Maria Golimowska, the oldest living Olympic volleyball medalist and Polish Olympic medalist, represented her country in the tournament at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where she won a bronze medal. She also took bronze at the 1956 and 1962 World Championships and the 1958 European Championships, in addition to silver at the 1963 Europeans. Her international career lasted from 1955 through 1966, and she did not retire domestically until 1971.

Leo Franciosi, the oldest living Sammarinese Olympian, represented his nation in four editions of the Olympic trap shooting tournament – 1960, 1968, 1976, 1980 – with a best finish of joint-21st in 1976. He was also the flagbearer for San Marino in the 1968 Opening Ceremony.

In other news, oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Iranian wrestler Emam Ali Habibi, born April 13, 1931, died August 24 at the age of 94. Habibi represented his country in the lightweight, freestyle wrestling division at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he won a surprise gold medal. He then switched to welterweight, winning titles at the 1958 Asian Games and the World Championships from 1959 through 1962, with his only major loss coming at the 1960 Rome Olympics, where he was eliminated in round five. He was later a member of Iran’s parliament and had a brief career in film.

At the time of his death, Habibi was the oldest living Iranian and wrestling Olympic champion. While there are no living Iranian Olympic champions over the age of 90, the oldest living Olympic wrestling champion is now Branislav Simić, born March 21, 1935. Simić represented Yugoslavia in four consecutive editions of the Olympic middleweight Greco-Roman tournament, 1956-1968, winning gold in 1964 and bronze in 1968. He was also a gold medalist at the 1967 Mediterranean Games.

Today Oldest Olympians is saddened to report the recent deaths of two centenarian Olympians. The first is Austrian gymnast Gerti Gries, born October 16, 1924, who died May 22 at the age of 100. Gries represented her country in the tournaments at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, placing sixth with the team in 1948 and having a best individual finish of joint-56^th in the uneven bars in 1952. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living Austrian Olympian, Olympic gymnast, and survivor of the 1952 Summer Games.

(Colette Fanara)

The oldest survivor of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics is now Yulen Uralov, born November 23, 1924. Uralov represented the Soviet Union in two foil fencing events at those Games, but did not win a medal. He later worked as a coach and eventually moved to Israel. The oldest living Olympic gymnast is now Colette Fanara, born February 15, 1925. Fanara represented France in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where her best individual finish was 85^th in the uneven bars. Finally, the oldest living Austrian Olympian is now alpine skier Egon Schöpf, born October 16, 1925. Schöpf represented his country in four events across two editions of the Games, 1948 and 1952, but only placed in two of them: fifth in the downhill and sixth in the slalom in 1948. He was a bronze medalist in the downhill at the 1950 World Championships.

(Julio César León, pictured at Noticias Barquisimeto)

The other recent death is that of Julio César León, born February 2, 1925, who died on August 17 at the age of 100. León competed in two events at the 1948 London Games, the 1,000 metres time trial and the sprint, finishing 14th and being eliminated in the second round respectively. This made him the first Venezuelan to compete at the Olympics (outside of the art competitions) and, as the sole delegate from his nation to those Games, he had the honor of carrying Venezuela’s flag in the opening ceremony. He had a relatively successful international cycling career after World War II and later worked as an engineer.

(Emilio Vidal, pictured at PIÙ BIKES)

At the time of his death, León was the oldest living Venezuelan Olympian, a distinction that now goes to another cyclist, Emilio Vidal, born April 2, 1929. Vidal represented his nation in the road race at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed 62^nd. Finally, we wanted to note an addition to our list of Olympic-adjacent centenarians. Eugene Wettstone, born July 15, 1913, was a reserve with the American gymnastics team at the 1948 London Games, but did not compete. He was, however, a referee at the 1952 Helsinki Games, and he died July 30, 2013 at the age of 100 years, 15 days.

Today on Oldest Olympians we have two milestone birthdays to celebrate, so it is time cover them both in a blog entry!

(Sheila Lerwill, pictured at The Streatham Society)

First we are wishing a happy 97^th birthday to Sheila Lerwill, the oldest living British Olympic medalist and Olympic medalist in track and field athletics! Lerwill represented her country in the high jump at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she won a silver medal. She was European champion in that event in 1950 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.

Second, we are wishing a happy 96^th birthday to Fritz Nachmann, the oldest living Olympic luger and survivor of the 1968 Grenoble Games! Nachmann represented West Germany in 1968 and won a bronze medal in the doubles while placing 17^th in the singles. Four years earlier he had represented a unified Germany at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics, but did not finish the singles. He won silver in the singles at the 1967 Europeans and five medals, including three golds, at the Worlds.

Finally, thanks to Connor Mah, we have learned that Swiss field hockey player Maurice Magnin, who was on our list of 1928 mystery competitors, was born August 5, 1896 in what is now Geneva. He also found that another Swiss field hockey player, Pierre Pasche from 1948, was born September 27, 1909 and died April 14, 1988.