Oldest Olympians will 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 22–March 1).
Tomorrow, Egyptian rower Wagih El-Attar, born February 22, 1928, will turn 97! 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 now lives in Orange Country, California as the oldest living Egyptian Olympian.
Then, (West) German equestrian Harry Boldt, born February 23, 1930, will turn 95! 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 his 1996 retirement and is now the oldest living German Olympic champion.
(Gurbux Singh, pictured at The Telegraph)
As there are no more milestone birthdays during this period, we wanted to take some time to highlight some of the oldest Olympians that we have not yet featured. Our first, Indian hockey player Gurbux Singh, just turned 90 on February 11. He represented his country in two editions of the Olympic tournament, 1964 and 1968, winning gold in Tokyo and bronze in Mexico City. He was also Asian Games champion in 1966 and coached the Indian team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
In a previous post, we mentioned that we had discovered a new centenarian Olympian, Austrian gymnast Gertrude Gries, born October 16, 1924. Gries represented her country at two editions of the Summer Olympics, beginning in 1948 when she was sixth with the national team in the all-around. In 1952, the Austrians were tenth in the all-around and ninth in the portable apparatus, while individually her best finish was joint-56th in the uneven bars. We do not know much else about her, but her family did confirm that she reached the age of 100.
(Frank O’Grady, pictured at the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame)
Next, we have ice hockey player Frank O’Grady, born July 25, 1930, who was selected to represent the United States at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics but did not play due to injury. He was also chosen to play at the 1957 World Championships, but the United States ended up boycotting the event. He had better luck at the collegiate level with Boston College, and he was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1995.
Then we have Jarmila Helešicová, born in 1930, who was selected to represent Czechoslovakia in the 200 metres breaststroke at the 1956 Melbourne Games, but was unable to compete. She did, however, take part in the 1954 European Championships and later worked as a coach after retiring in 1960. She was still alive recently, although we have been unable to locate an exact date of birth.
We would be remiss not to mention that the most decorated female Olympian of all time, Larisa Latynina, born December 27, 1934, turned 90 at the end of last year. Latynina represented the Soviet Union in three editions of the Olympic gymnastics tournament, 1956-1964, winning 18 medals across 19 events, missing only the balance beam in 1956. Nine of those medals were gold. She also won 14 medals each at the World and Europeans Championships.
Finally, to wrap up 2024, we have a living Olympian born in 1934 without a precise a date of birth: Indian track athlete Sri Chand Ram. Ram represented his country in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1956 Melbourne Games, but he was eliminated in round one. He trained while serving in the army and later became a coach.
The tables will not be updated during our absence, but we look forward to returning on March 2 to continue cover the Oldest Olympians! We hope that you will join us!