Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Belgian boxer Ferdinand Bothy, born March 23, 1926, died October 21 at the age of 99. Bothy represented his country as a heavyweight at the 1948 London Games, where he was eliminated in round two. He then had a brief career as a professional in 1949, earning a 4-2-0 record, before retiring from the sport. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Belgian Olympian.

We next believed that rower Florent Caers, born November 17, 1928, was the new oldest Belgian Olympian. Caers represented his country in the coxless fours at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where his crew was eliminated in the semi-finals repêchage. He was still alive as of 2023 but, following Bothy’s death, we received a note that Caers had died on September 19, 2024, and so was never the oldest living Belgian Olympian.

(Yvonne Van Bets, pictured at kasskrabber)

This means that gymnast Yvonne Van Bets, born December 14, 1928, is the new oldest Belgian Olympian. Van Bets represented her country in the tournament at the 1948 London Games, placing 11^th with the team. She also competed at the 1950 World Championships and later became a coach, after a severe hand injury in 1953 ended her competitive career.

Finally, on the topic of Belgium, we featured Belgian sailor A. J. J. Fridt, who competed in the 6 metres class at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, as an Olympic mystery a while ago. Thanks to research from Connor Mah, we now know that he was Armand Fridt, born March 10, 1899 and died January 20, 1969. We also have a new Olympic mystery in Marcel Lambrechts, born May 4, 1931, who represented Belgium in four track events across two editions of the Games, 1956 and 1960. We used to have him on our list of oldest living Olympians, as he was known to be alive as recently as 2016. Someone added a date of death of June 4, 2022 to his Dutch Wikipedia article, however, and while we have not been able to verify this, we have removed him from our tables until proof one way or another can be found.

Today we believe that the oldest living Romanian Olympian, Francisc Horvath, is celebrating his 97^th birthday. We featured Horvath in our Olympic medal mysteries series some time ago, as he won bronze in bantamweight, Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1956 Melbourne Games. In response, one reader provided a report that showed him alive in 2021, but others have pointed out sources claiming that he died in 1969 or 1980, and it remains unclear which is correct. Nonetheless, since there is a reasonable chance that he is still alive, we are wishing him a happy birthday!

(Gebhard Büchel’s obituary)

Additionally, while we are blogging, we wanted to thank Horacio Hernan Macchiavello, who solved some of our Olympic mysteries regarding Olympians possibly older than Rhoda Wurtele. Thanks to him, we now know that Argentinian sailor Boris Belada, born September 29, 1920, died in 2000, and his compatriot Óscar Cervo, a sport shooter born October 6, 1920, died in 1984. Chilean boxer Manuel Videla was born in 1920 and died July 23, 1993, while Argentinian field hockey player Carlos Mercali was born in 1921 and died June 10, 1976. Finally, thanks to another reader of the blog, we now know that Liechtenstein track and field athlete Gebhard Büchel was actually born July 22, 1921 and died May 31, 2011, before reaching the age of 90.

Oldest Olympians blogging is back after a short break and has the same two milestone birthdays to celebrate as last year. Thus, rather than choose between them, we are featuring both in a single entry!

(Muhammad Ashraf, pictured at SBS Urdu)

First, we are wishing a happy 98th birthday to Muhammad Ashraf, the oldest living Olympic wrestler! Ashraf represented Pakistan at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in round four of the lightweight, freestyle event. He did win gold medals in this category at the 1958 and 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, in addition to bronze at the 1954 Asian Games. He coached the national team from 1960 through 1972 and then moved to Australia to run their wrestling squad. He now resides in Adelaide.

Secondly, British speed skater Henry Howes is turning 97 as the oldest living Olympic speed skater! Howes represented his country in four events at the 1948 St. Moritz Games, with a best finish of 18th in the 1500 metres. He won four national titles between 1946 and 1950 and now resides in Staines, Sussex.