Today Oldest Olympians is saddened to report the recent deaths of two centenarian Olympians. The first is Austrian gymnast Gerti Gries, born October 16, 1924, who died May 22 at the age of 100. Gries represented her country in the tournaments at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, placing sixth with the team in 1948 and having a best individual finish of joint-56th in the uneven bars in 1952. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living Austrian Olympian, Olympic gymnast, and survivor of the 1952 Summer Games.
(Colette Fanara)
The oldest survivor of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics is now Yulen Uralov, born November 23, 1924. Uralov represented the Soviet Union in two foil fencing events at those Games, but did not win a medal. He later worked as a coach and eventually moved to Israel. The oldest living Olympic gymnast is now Colette Fanara, born February 15, 1925. Fanara represented France in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where her best individual finish was 85th in the uneven bars. Finally, the oldest living Austrian Olympian is now alpine skier Egon Schöpf, born October 16, 1925. Schöpf represented his country in four events across two editions of the Games, 1948 and 1952, but only placed in two of them: fifth in the downhill and sixth in the slalom in 1948. He was a bronze medalist in the downhill at the 1950 World Championships.
(Julio César León, pictured at Noticias Barquisimeto)
The other recent death is that of Julio César León, born February 2, 1925, who died on August 17 at the age of 100. León competed in two events at the 1948 London Games, the 1,000 metres time trial and the sprint, finishing 14th and being eliminated in the second round respectively. This made him the first Venezuelan to compete at the Olympics (outside of the art competitions) and, as the sole delegate from his nation to those Games, he had the honor of carrying Venezuela’s flag in the opening ceremony. He had a relatively successful international cycling career after World War II and later worked as an engineer.
(Emilio Vidal, pictured at PIÙ BIKES)
At the time of his death, León was the oldest living Venezuelan Olympian, a distinction that now goes to another cyclist, Emilio Vidal, born April 2, 1929. Vidal represented his nation in the road race at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed 62nd. Finally, we wanted to note an addition to our list of Olympic-adjacent centenarians. Eugene Wettstone, born July 15, 1913, was a reserve with the American gymnastics team at the 1948 London Games, but did not compete. He was, however, a referee at the 1952 Helsinki Games, and he died July 30, 2013 at the age of 100 years, 15 days.