Newly Discovered Centenarians

With so many birthdays and, sadly, deaths for the oldest Olympians as of late, we have had limited opportunities to write new blog posts. Today, therefore, we wanted to begin catching up by briefly covering two deceased centenarian Olympians that were discovered recently by Olympic historian Taavi Kalju. Through his research, he was able to identify literally hundreds of missing datapoints for Olympians, some of which we have already discussed, and we wanted to share a few more of his findings on this blog.

(The 6 metre race at the 1936 Berlin Games, from 1936 Summer Olympics – The Results)

Jacques Rambaud – Member of the French 6-metre class crew at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

As is the case with many sailors, outside of his Olympic participation we know very little of Jacques Rambaud, who was born April 25, 1906. At the 1936 Berlin Games, he was a member of four-time Olympic sailor Jean Peytel’s crew aboard the Qu’Importe. Alongside Claude Desouches, Gérard de Piolenc, and Yves Baudrier, they finished 10th out of 12 teams in the 6-metre event. Rambaud later moved to Switzerland and died there in Fribourg on September 14, 2006, at the age of 100 years, 142 days.

Lucie Petit-Diagre – Member of the Belgian track and field athletics team at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics

On the other hand, we know much about Lucie Petit-Diagre, who was born in Paris’ 18th arrondissement on July 24, 1901. From 1921 through 1927 she was a member of the French national team, earning national titles in the two (1923) and one-handed shot put (1927), as well as the discus (1924). It was in the latter category that she set a world record of 27.70 metres and, overall, she earned seven additional French medals in those events, as well as one in the high jump. She then married a Belgian journalist and began representing that country, including at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, where she was 20th in the discus throw.

In 1929, she won her last national title, the Belgian shot put, but she continued competing through the first half of the 1930s. She also dabbled in rowing and swimming. She subsequently settled into private life and died on December 24, 2001, at the age of 100 years, 153 days. This means that from the death of American diver Hal Haig Prieste on April 15, 2001 until her own, she was the oldest living Olympian.

That is all we have for today, but we will be trying to catch up on our blog posts, so we hope that you will join us again soon!

5 thoughts on “Newly Discovered Centenarians”

    1. Ah yes, unfortunately that is an outdated post. The Falz-Fein who competed in the Games was not the same one who lived to be over the age of 100. The two were cousins, but different people with the same name.

  1. FYI, Jacques RAMBAUD was born in “Evreux, Eure, France”.
    This information comes from the INSEE database (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) which includes almost all French people who died from 1970 to 2019. This database is accessible to the public on the INSEE website . The database has recently been indexed by the 2 largest French genealogical societies/websites: Geneanet and Filae.
    Regards,
    Patrick

    PS : here is the INSEE data on him.
    Nom : RAMBAUD
    Prénom : Jacques Alfred Ange Joseph
    Sexe : M
    Jour de naissance : 25
    Mois de naissance : 04
    Année de naissance : 1906
    Code insee naissance : 27229
    Commune de naissance : Evreux
    Pays de naissance : FRANCE
    Jour de décès : 14
    Mois de décès : 09
    Année de décès : 2006
    Code insee deces : 99140
    Pays de décès : SUISSE

  2. About Lucie PETIT-DIAGRE I can’t find her in the INSEE database but I find her on several Geneanet (genealogical) published trees!
    Her maiden name was Lucie Henriette PETIT. Has you said she was born in Paris 18th arrondissement on July 24, 1901. She married Norbert Emmanuel DIAGRE 1894-1975 on October 15, 1927 in Paris 18th. She died at Dilbeek, Belgium on December 24, 2001. She has one son.
    Source 1: https://gw.geneanet.org/hyacinthe1?lang=en&n=petit&oc=&p=lucie+georgette
    Source 2: https://gw.geneanet.org/prolegomenes?lang=en&n=petit&oc=&p=lucie+georgette

    In BNF (French National Library) online website you can also find a article on her published on May 13, 1930 in the newspaper Paris-Soir : https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k7639951w/f6.item.r=DIAGRE‘ target=’_blank’

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