Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays as last year, so we have decided to cover both in a single blog post again!

The first is Birte Christoffersen-Hanson, who is turning 101 today! Christoffersen-Hanson represented Denmark in diving as Brite Christoffersen until 1953, including at the 1948 London Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the platform event. She also took two bronze medals at the 1950 European Championships. From 1954 until her retirement in the 1960s, she represented Sweden as Birte Hanson, appearing twice more at the Olympics (1956 and 1960) and capturing one bronze (1958) and two silver medals (1954) at the European Championships. By career, she worked as a physical education instructor and now resides in Limhamn, Malmö as the oldest living Danish and Swedish Olympian, diving Olympian, and survivor of the 1960 Rome Games!

(Stoyanka Angelova, pictured at Canal Catorce)

Next is gymnast Stoyanka Angelova, who is turning 97 and is the oldest living Bulgarian Olympian! Angelova represented her country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she had a best individual finish of 34th in the balance beam. After coaching the Bulgarian national team, she emigrated to Mexico in 1971, where she spent a half century involved with Mexican Olympian Committee.

Finally, while we are posting a blog entry, we wanted to thank Hernán Macchiavello, who provided us with additional biographical information on Jorge Pessoa, a reserve with the 1932 Brazilian water polo delegation. We now know that Pessoa was born September 6, 1906 and died May 3, 1979 at the age of 72.

Today Oldest Olympians has three milestone birthdays to celebrate so, as you might imagine, we have decided to feature all of them in a single blog post rather than choose just one!

First is Fernand Bothy, the oldest living Belgian Olympian and Olympic boxer, who is turning 99! Bothy represented his country 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.

Next is Gábor Benedek, the oldest living Hungarian Olympian and Olympic medalist in modern pentathlon, who is turning 98! After serving in World War II, Benedek made his Olympic debut at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a silver medal in the individual event and, with the help of his countrymen, gold in the team tournament. He made a second appearance in 1956, where Hungary missed the podium in fourth and, individually, Benedek was sixth. He was also an individual World Champion in 1953 and a winner with the Hungarian team in 1954. For political reasons, he was banned from competing after 1959 and thus he took up coaching. He later emigrated to West Germany, where he remained until the end of the Cold War. He is now the last surviving member of his gold medal-winning team.

Finally, American Hayes Jenkins, the oldest living Olympic figure skating champion, is turning 92! Jenkins placed just off the podium in fourth at the 1952 Oslo Games, but made up for it in 1956 by winning the event. From 1953 through 1956, he was also the American and World Champion, but he retired after that and worked as a lawyer.

Continuing from the previous blog post, following the death of Iris Cummings as the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics, today Oldest Olympians is looking at Olympians who competed at the 1932 Games. There are actually fewer Olympians than from 1928 who we could not find confirmation of their being deceased, although two of them have a known date of birth and could still possibly be alive. With that said, as all competitors would have had to be teenagers or younger during the Games, it is unlikely that any remain alive.

First, Hatsuko Morioka, born June 22, 1915, represented Japan in four swimming events across two editions of the Games – 1932 and 1936 – with a best finish of fifth with her nation in the 4×100 metres freestyle relay. She was a four-time national champion in the 400 metres freestyle, but she retired from active competition at the onset of World War II. While some sources claim that she was alive at the age of 100, we have seen no evidence that confirms this.

Second, Misao Yokota, born February 3, 1917, represented Japan in the same relay, as well as in the 100 metres backstroke, in 1932. She was a two-time champion in the latter event, 1932-1933, and made some professional appearances prior to World War II. She was still alive in 2001, but we have no evidence of what happened to her after that. Finally, below are the 23 competitors from 1932 for whom we lack even a year of birth, but also evidence of their death.

(Hwang Eul-Su, Korean boxer)

Name	Notes
Toru Arai	Art competitor from Japan in Painting
Vicente Araujo	Reserve for Brazil’s 4×400 metres relay team
Abelardo Cuevas	Art competitor from Japan in Music
Daemers	Art competitor from Belgium in Sculpturing
Valère De Moer	Art competitor from Belgium in Sculpturing
Deryck	Art competitor from Belgium in Architecture
D. Dumortier	Art competitor from Belgium in Painting
Hélène Gérard	Art competitor from Belgium in Painting
Hwang Eul-Su	Korean lightweight boxer
Franz Janisch	Reserve with the Austrian weightlifting delegation
Eiichi Kawasaki	Art competitor from Japan in Sculpturing
Jay Maddox	Art competitor from the United States in Painting
Jeronimo Maria	Non-starter for Brazil in the 5,000 metres event
Kiyoshi Murai	Reserve with Japan’s water polo squad
Rogelio Pazquez	Art competitor from Cuba in Music
Rafael Pérez	Non-starter for Cuba in the high and long jumps
Jorge Pessoa	Reserve with Brazil’s water polo squad
Marcel Prévost	Art competitor from Belgium in Painting
Tomotari Sakurai	Art competitor from Japan in Painting
Elise Swanson	Art competitor from the United States in Music
Isamu Toyofuji	Art competitor from Japan in Painting
Domingos Trevisan	Non-starter for Brazil in the javelin throw
Anna Van Nuffel	Art competitor from Belgium in Sculpturing

Our final post in this series will look into the 1936 Games, and once again we hope that you will join us!

Today Oldest Olympians is returning to Iris Cummings, born December 21, 1920, who died January 24 as the last survivor of the 1936 Berlin Games, making her the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics. Over the years, we have mentioned many Olympians from the 1928, 1932, and 1936 Games whom we could not confirm as deceased, but with no reports of survivors following Cummings’ death, we suspect that she was truly the last.

Of the 214 individuals without a known date of birth that competed in those editions, but we could not prove as either living or deceased, 58 were from 1928. Since any survivors would have had to be pre-teens to still be alive, it is probably safe to assume that they are all deceased. Thus we wanted to use this post to present those names that we were unable to learn more about.

Name	Notes
Michel Baur	Member of the France 1 four/five man bobsleigh
G. H. Bellut	Reserve for France in the modern pentathlon
A. Bié	Reserve with the French field hockey team
Isidor Bieri	Featherweight Greco-Roman wrestler for Switzerland
Brander	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland
J. Brun	Reserve with the Swiss field hockey team
Peter Conrad	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland
Hermann Eichholzer	Middleweight weightlifter for Switzerland
F. Fischer	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
Joseph Fischler	Member of the Swiss team pursuit, 4,000 metres squad
Robert Frédéric	Lightweight reserve with the French boxing delegation
Otto Frei	Middleweight Greco-Roman wrestler for Switzerland
Simon Frey	Swiss art competitor
Wilhelm Gasser	Heavyweight weightlifter for Switzerland
Robert Frédéric	Middleweight reserve with the French boxing delegation
Louis Giobergia	Member of Monaco’s coxed fours rowing squad
M. L. Guirard	Reserve with the French field hockey team
Hubert Guyard	Member of the French tandem sprint, 2,000 metres squad
Ion Haidu	Romanian decathlete
Anton Huber	Member of Germany’s 6 metres-class sailing crew
Auguste Hummel	Flyweight reserve with the French boxing delegation
Robert Hürlimann	Member of the Swiss water polo team
Ernest Hüttenmoser	Member of the Swiss water polo team
Kinichiro Ishii	Japanese single sculls rower
Fred Jenny	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
H. J. Ken	Austrian art competitor
Adalbert Koch	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
Fritz Kuhn	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland
Fritz Lincke	Reserve with the German field hockey team
J. Loubert	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
Maurice Magnin	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
F. Mordasini	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland
Saul Moyal	Egyptian foil and épée fencer
P. Neymann	Reserve with the German cycling delegation
Roland Olivier	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
G. Périer	Member of France’s military ski patrol team
Charles Piot	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
Karl Max Reinhardt	Member of the Germany 1 four/five man bobsleigh
Jean Rémusat	Reserve with the French field hockey team
Franz Riederer	Heavyweight weightlifter for Switzerland
Jacques Rivière	Member of the French field hockey team
Otto Rothman	Romanian javelin thrower
E. Ruchti	Reserve with the Swiss water polo team
Tiberiu Rusu	Romanian high jumper
Hachiro Sato	Member of Japan’s coxed fours rowing squad
Eugène Schmitt	Member of France’s gymnastics delegation
Fred Short	South African road race cyclist
Olver Silva	Bantamweight reserve with the Argentine boxing delegation
Jacques Simon	Member of the French field hockey team
Charles Six	Member of the French field hockey team
Tsukasa Sonobe	Member of Japan’s coxed fours rowing squad
Max Studer	Light-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler for Switzerland
Max Thommen	Reserve with the Swiss equestrian delegation
Ernst Trinkler	Middleweight weightlifter for Switzerland
E. Tschümperly	Reserve with the Swiss water polo team
Makoto Tsushida	Member of Japan’s coxed fours rowing squad
Hermann Volz	Heavyweight weightlifter for Germany
Rudolf Wettstein	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland

Our next post in this series will look into the 1932 and 1936 Games, so we hope that you will join us!

Oldest Olympians was saddened to learn that, during our break, the oldest Olympian, Yvonne Chabot-Curtet, born May 28, 1920, died February 21 at the age of 104. Chabot-Curtet represented her country in the long jump at two editions of the Games, 1948 and 1952, placing 8th and 23rd respectively, and setting an Olympic record in the qualifying round of the former edition. She also came in fourth at the 1950 European Championships in that event and captured five national titles: the long jump and the pentathlon in 1946 and 1949 and an additional long jump title in 1945. Her daughter, Jacqueline, was also a successful long jumper on the national scene, although she did not appear at the Olympics.

(Rhoda Wurtele, pictured in a clip from My Canadian Moment)

The new oldest living Olympian is Canadian alpine skier Rhoda Wurtele-Eaves, born January 21, 1922, who recently turned 103. Both her and her twin sister Rhona, who died in 2020 at the age of 97, reached the top of the national skiing scene, with Rhona competing in the Olympics in 1948 and Rhoda in 1952. In 1948, the already injured Rhona broke her leg near the end of the course and placed last among the finishers, while Rhoda did not compete at all due to an ankle injury. Rhona, meanwhile, did not participate in 1952, while Rhoda had her best finish of ninth in the giant slalom. Both later had careers as ski instructors and were inaugurated into multiple Halls of Fame for their pioneering efforts in the field of Canadian women’s skiing.

Chabot-Curtet held several other distinctions as the oldest living Olympian, including the oldest living French Olympian, the oldest living track and field athlete, and the oldest survivor of the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics. The oldest French Olympian and survivor from the 1948 London Games is now cyclist Charles Coste, born February 8, 1924. 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. He is also the oldest living Olympic cyclist and the oldest living Olympic champion!

The oldest survivor of the 1952 Helsinki Games, meanwhile, is Gertrude Gries, born October 16, 1924, who we recently added to our tables after it was confirmed that she was still alive at the age of 100! 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-56^th in the uneven bars.

Finally, the oldest living track and field athlete is now Yoshio Iimuro, born January 18, 1925, who recently turned 100! Iimuro represented his country in the triple jump at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where he finished sixth. He had better luck at the Asian Games, where he won that event in 1951 and came in second in 1954. He later had a long career in education, served in several roles as a sports administrator, and authored a book on his experiences. He is also the oldest living Japanese Olympian.

As always, when the oldest Olympian dies, there are many other issues to write about, and we still have to catch up on new developments following the death of the last survivor of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Iris Cummings. We therefore have many blog posts planned for the future and hope that you will join us!