Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Canadian track athlete Nancy Mackay, born April 6, 1922, died January 4 at the age of 101. Mackay represented her country in the 4×100 metres relay at the 1948 London Games, where she took home a bronze medal. Domestically, she won six national titles between 1936 and 1941 and was invited to the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were ultimately cancelled. From 1944 through 1947 she took three national titles in the United States and made the London Olympics her final international competition.

What makes this worth mentioning in a blog entry is that we were informed in 2018 that an author had contacted a nursing home in Whitby, Ontario where she had been a resident and was informed that she had died back in 2016 and that no public notice had been given. Thus, we had listed her as deceased previously and wanted to clear up any confusion from our previous posts, which seemed to be based in solid information. Additionally, at the time of her death, she would have been the oldest living Canadian Olympic medalist, meaning that gold medal-winning equestrian Tom Gayford, born November 21, 1928, has only held that title since the beginning of the month, despite earlier posts.

(William de Rham)

Additionally, we mentioned two days ago that track athlete Karl Volkmer, born March 20, 1922, died December 19, 2023 at the age of 101, coincidentally living one day longer than Mackay, as the oldest living Swiss Olympian. As an update, that distinction now goes to equestrian William de Rham, born August 22, 1922.