Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Micheline Lannoy, born January 31, 1925, whom we believed to be turning 100 at the end of the month, actually died March 18, 2023 at the age of 98. Lannoy and her partner Pierre Baugniet were Belgian national champions in the pairs event from 1944 through 1947. In 1947 they took both the European and World Championships, and then followed that up with victories at the Worlds and the Olympics in 1948. Despite these impressive successes, the duo ended their careers after the Games and managed to maintain a low-profile thereafter. Lannoy later moved to Ontario, Canada and took the married name MacAulay.

(Dick Button)

While normally we would not report on a death that occurred nearly two years ago, we wanted to prepare an update because, in addition to turning 100, she was believed to be the oldest living Belgian Olympian, oldest living Olympic figure skater, and oldest survivor of the 1948 St. Mortiz Games. In terms of figure skaters, the oldest is now American Peter Kennedy, born September 4, 1927, who took silver in the pairs at the 1952 Oslo Games. Among Olympic figure skating champions, however, another American, Dick Button, born July 18, 1929, is now the oldest, having won the men’s singles in 1948 and 1952.

(Fernand Bothy)

Among the Belgians, Fernand Bothy is now the oldest to have represented his country. He did so as a boxer in the heavyweight division at the 1948 London Games, where he was defeated in round two. He then embarked upon a brief professional career in 1949, earning a 4-2-0 record, and now resides in Farciennes. The oldest Olympic medalist for Belgium, however, is Roger Moens, born April 26, 1930, who took silver in the 800 metres track event at the 1960 Rome Games.

(Rosemarie Sparrow)

Finally, the oldest survivor of the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics is Rosemarie Sparrow, born July 6, 1925, who represented Great Britain in two alpine skiing events and now resides in France. Heikki Hasu, meanwhile, born March 21, 1926, is the oldest living Olympic champion and medalist from those Games. Representing Finland, he won the Nordic combined in 1948 and was runner-up in 1952, in addition to being part of the gold medal-winning 4×10 kilometers cross-country skiing relay in the latter year.