Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to provide an update to eisstockschießen, the demonstration sport from the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics that had many competitors with missing biographical details. Thanks to new research Connor Mah, however, we can now fill in some of those gaps.

(Georg Edenhauser (left) and Friedrich Mosshammer (right))

To start off with the winner of the distance shooting event, and on a sad note, we have learned that Austrian Georg Edenhauser was born January 12, 1911 and completed suicide less than a year after his victory, on January 26, 1937. We also now know that the runner-up in that event, his compatriot Friedrich Mosshammer, was born July 15, 1895. The winner of the target shooting event that was open to all nations, Ignaz Reiterer, also of Austria, was born July 27, 1887 and died July 31, 1944.

(Wilhelm Silbermayr)

For the winning Austrians for the team event, we now know additional dates of birth: Wilhelm Silbermayr was born September 13, 1880, Anton Ritzl and his brother Otto were born October 18, 1894 and March 22, 1898 respectively, and Wilhelm Pichler was born May 19, 1897. For their compatriots from the third-placed team, we now have full biographical details for Friedrich Schieg, born February 14, 1877 and died November 20, 1970, as well as a date of birth for Hubert Lödler, October 31, 1906. For other full biographical information for Austrians, we now have August Ischepp born September 1, 1900 and died February 8, 1968; Josef Kleewein born May 24, 1890 and died June 8, 1941; and Anton Schaffernak born January 12, 1899 and died February 3, 1981. Additionally, we now have a date of birth for Isidor Waitschacher: May 9, 1895.

We also have updates from Connor Mah on some of the Czechoslovakian players. Fritz Brade was born November 10, 1890 and died June 12, 1940, while Friedrich Feistner was born August 29, 1893 and died March 10, 1941. We also have three additional competitors whose dates of birth were uncovered: Friedrich Arnhold, born December 20, 1894; Rudolf Kopal, born July 3, 1893; and Karl Wolfinger, born November 27, 1887.

Finally, as we continue to follow up from the death of Iris Cummings as the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics, we note that the majority of the 1936 competitors for whom we could not confirm as alive deceased and have no date of birth are eisstockschießen players. Since we have covered them all in previous posts, we thought we would end this entry with a quick chart of those names.

(August Brunner)

Name	Country
Franz Xaver Bachl	Germany
Anton Bader	Germany
Hans Bauer	Germany
Xaver Bauer	Germany
Bernhard Becker	Germany
Ruth Becker	Germany
Paul Begusch	Austria
Hans Bernhardt	Czechoslovakia
Hans Bielmeier	Germany
August Brunner	Germany
Friedrich Czernich	Czechoslovakia
Lisl Dotzert	Germany
Franz Dürr	Germany
Johann Eibach	Germany
Matthias Enzersberger	Germany
Otto Enzersberger	Germany
Ferdinand Erb	Germany
Wilhelm Feistner	Czechoslovakia
Johann Fichtl	Germany
Hermann Fuchs	Germany
Martin Geisenhofer	Germany
Sebastian Groeß	Germany
Hans Großmann	Czechoslovakia
Hans Hackl	Germany
Josef Hafner	Austria
Alois Haider	Germany
Otto Hanff	Czechoslovakia
Egon Härtl	Germany
Alfred Hein	Czechoslovakia
Lilli Herboldt	Germany
Josef Hödl-Schlehofer	Austria
Ida Holzer	Germany
Herrmann Jeddicke	Germany
Anton Jocher	Germany
Lorenz Junker	Germany
Wilhelm Kadel	Germany
Hilde Kaiser	Germany
Josef Kalkschmid	Austria
Albert Karl	Germany
Fritz Keck	Germany
Hilde Keck	Germany
Ida Kellermann	Germany
Englbert Kigele	Germany
Franz Klarl	Germany
Martha Knak	Germany
Agnes Knudsen	Germany
Josef Körner	Germany
Anton Kranner	Germany
Josef Kreitmeier	Germany
Georg Kronfeldner	Germany
Mathilde Kronfeldner	Germany
Paula Külper	Germany
Dora Landes	Germany
Elise Landes	Germany
Franz Lawugger	Austria
Josef Lechner	Germany
Josef Lenz	Germany
Elisabeth Luchterhand	Germany
Georg Lüftiger	Germany
Josef Maierbrugger	Austria
Josef Marx	Austria
Karl Möbus	Germany
Willi Mohr	Germany
Hans Moser	Germany
Karl Möser	Germany
Johann Mrakitsch	Austria
Georg Müller	Germany
Josef Neuner	Germany
Werner Niemeyer	Germany
Roman Ostermeier	Germany
Johann Ostler	Germany
Karl Pfeffer	Germany
Kurt Pfeffer	Germany
Max Pfeffer	Germany
Theresia Pfeffer	Germany
Rudolf Rainer	Austria
Josef Raufer	Germany
Otto Reisinger	Germany
Ludwig Retzer	Germany
Wolfgang Röck	Germany
Hans Schwimmbeck	Germany
Josef Seilmaier	Germany
Lina Strobl	Germany
Ernst Vogler	Germany
Rudolf Wagner	Austria
Karl Weber	Germany
Martha Weickelsdorfer	Germany
Maria Weinmüller	Germany
Eva Wiede	Germany
Josef Wirt	Germany
Franz Wörndle	Germany
Heinrich Wurst	Germany
Franz Zauner	Germany
Hans Zellner	Germany

Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays as last year, so we are again continuing our trend of covering both in a single blog post rather than choosing between them!

First, we want to wish a happy 95^th birthday to Miguel Seijas, the oldest living Uruguayan Olympian! Seijas represented his country in the double sculls at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Games, winning bronze in the former and being eliminated in the round one repêchage in the latter.

Second, Chiharu Igaya is turning 94 as Japan’s oldest Olympic medalist! Igaya represented his country in nine alpine skiing events across three editions of the Games – 1952, 1956, and 1960 – and won a silver medal in the slalom in 1956. He also took bronze at the World Championships in that event in 1958. By career he worked in insurance, but also served in sport administration, most notably as a member of the IOC since 1982.

(Willy Senn)

Finally, we were able to confirm that the Rico Bianchi who died March 26, and who we mentioned in our last blog entry, was the Swiss silver medal-winning Olympian. We can also add Willy Senn to the list of Swiss updates, as Connor Mah was able to confirm him as being born May 25, 1920 and dying on October 27, 1989, as we suspected in an earlier blog post.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that British field hockey player Tony Nunn, born May 24, 1927, died May 7 at the age of 97. Nunn represented his country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a bronze medal. Domestically, he played for the Hawks Hockey Club.

(Sheila Lerwill, pictured at The Streatham Society)

At the time of his death, Nunn was the oldest living British Olympic medalist and Olympic medalist in field hockey. The former distinction now goes to Sheila Lerwill, born August 16, 1928, who won a silver medal for Great Britain in the high jump at the 1952 Helsinki Games. She captured that title at the 1950 European Championships and came in fourth at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. After coming in fifth at that year’s Europeans, she retired from active competition. She was already the oldest living medalist in track and field athletics.

The latter titleholder is now Eric Pearce, born October 29, 1931. Pearce represented Australia at four consecutive editions of the Games – 1956 through 1968 – and won bronze in 1964 and silver in 1968. Three of his brothers also represented Australia in Olympic field hockey, as did his daughter Colleen in 1984.

Additionally, while we are posting, we were prepared to mention the 95^th birthday of Swiss rower Rico Bianchi on May 13, as he was believed to be the oldest living Swiss Olympic medalist. He took silver in the coxed fours at the 1952 Helsinki Games and also competed in the eights in 1960. There are unconfirmed reports, however, that he may have died March 26, which we have yet to verify. If he were deceased, another rower, André Moccand, born January 25, 1931, who took silver in the coxed fours in 1948, would be the oldest living Swiss Olympic medalist.

(Jacques Simon)

Finally, to complete the list of Connor Mah’s discoveries about 1928 Olympians, we have four Olympians for whom we have additional birth information. French field hockey player Jacques Simon was born August 23, 1903 and was still alive in 1970. Swiss water polo player Robert Hürlimann was born March 26, 1905, while Swiss weightlifter Hermann Eichholzer was born June 15, 1903. As for Eichholzer’s weightlifting compatriot Ernst Trinkler, Mah was able to uncover that he was born in 1906.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Giuseppe Moioli, born August 8, 1927, died today, May 5, at the age of 97. Moioli won gold for Italy in rowing’s coxless fours event at the 1948 London Games, just missed the podium in fourth in 1956 Melbourne, and also competed in 1952 Helsinki. He was a five-time European champion in this event between 1947 and 1956, and also won with the eights in 1958, in addition to a coxless fours gold medal at the 1955 Mediterranean Games. He later worked as a coach.

At the time of his death, Moioli was the oldest living Italian Olympic medalist and the oldest living Olympic medalist in rowing. The former distinction now goes to Ennio Mattarelli, born August 5, 1928, who was already the oldest living Olympic sport shooting medalist. Mattarelli represented Italy in the trap event at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where he won the gold medal. He also competed in 1968, where he was 27th, and won seven medals – three of them gold – at the World Championships between 1961 and 1974. He later worked as a coach and opened a business that manufactured clay pigeon launchers.

The oldest living Olympic medalist in rowing is now Neville Howell, born December 17, 1929. Howell represented Australia in the eights at the 1956 Melbourne Games and won bronze. He was a gold medalist in that event at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and also competed in the coxed pairs at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where he was eliminated in the round one repêchage. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2020 for his lifetime of community service, and he was already the oldest living Australian Olympic medalist.

(Charles Six)

While we are blogging, we wanted to update a handful of deaths discovered by Connor Mah from the list that we provided a few entries ago about 1928 Olympians for whom we had no biographical data. French field hockey player Charles Six was actually Albert Charles Six, born December 18, 1901 and died March 11, 1987. Swiss field hockey player Charles Piot was born in 1901 and died in October 1990. Swiss water polo player Ernest Hüttenmoser was actually Ernst Hüttenmoser, born August 8, 1908 and died May 27, 1980. Swiss weightlifter Franz Riederer was born August 31, 1897 and died December 31, 1963. Finally, we have updated data on two Swiss wrestlers: Isidor Bieri was born June 5, 1905 and died July 29, 1983, while Max Studer was born September 17, 1899 and died April 30, 1957.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we want to cover three recent deaths of Olympic titleholders. The first is German ski jumper Max Bolkart, born July 29, 1932, who died April 26 at the age of 92. Bolkart represented Germany in three editions of the Olympic ski jumping tournament, 1956 through 1964, and just missed the podium in the large hill in 1956 when he finished fourth. Domestically, he was West German champion four times during that period and later worked as a coach, machine fitter, and hotel owner.

At the time of his death, Bolkart was the oldest living Olympic ski jumper, a distinction that now goes to Enzo Perin, born August 10, 1933. Perin represented Italy in the Nordic combined in the same three editions, but also took part in the ski jumping tournament in 1956 and 1960. His best finish overall was 14^th in the Nordic combined in 1960.

Next, Oldest Olympians was saddened to learn of the deaths of two Olympic canoers. First, Mariya Shubina, born May 8, 1930, died April 20 at the age of 94. Shubina represented the Soviet Union in the K-2 500 at the 1960 Rome Games and won gold. Although this was her only Olympic appearance, between 1959 and 1967 she was a three-time European, four-time world, and ten-time national champion across various disciplines, and also won an additional silver medal at the Europeans and two at the Worlds. By career she was a biologist and earned her PhD in 1975.

The second was Ferenc Mohácsi, born October 25, 1929, who died April 29 at the age of 95. Mohácsi took bronze in the C-2 1000 at the 1956 Melbourne Games for Hungary. During his career, he took part in numerous sports and earned a degree in physical education. He later worked on the administrative side of sport. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic canoeing medalist, while Shubina was the oldest living Olympic canoeing champion.

(Jean Laudet, pictured in the center at Histoire du Canoë)

These titles now combine into one individual, France’s Jean Laudet, born August 5, 1930. Laudet represented his country in the C-2 10,000 metres event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, alongside Georges Turlier (another of the oldest Olympians), and took home the gold medal. He later worked as an antiquarian.

Finally, in continuing to share the information uncovered by Connor Mah on 1928 competitors, we wanted to highlight a new discovery in skijoring. We now know that Rudolf Wettstein, who won the demonstration event in St. Moritz, was born July 7, 1888 and died April 28, 1952.