For the second time in less than a month, Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn of the death of the oldest living Olympic champion: Nikita Simonyan, born October 12, 1926, died November 23 at the age of 99. Simonyan represented the Soviet Union in the football tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he won a gold medal. He also competed at the 1958 World Cup and won the top league title four times, as well as the Soviet Cup twice. He later became a successful coach domestically and for the national team.
The oldest living Olympic champion is now Gábor Benedek, born March 23, 1927. 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.
(Rudolf Plyukfelder)
At the time of his death, Simonyan was also the oldest living Soviet Olympic champion and Olympic footballer. The former title now goes to Rudolf Plyukfelder, born September 6, 1928, who won a gold medal in the light-heavyweight weightlifting tournament at the 1964 Tokyo Games. For football, the oldest living player overall is now Léon Letsch, born May 23, 1927, who represented Luxembourg in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The oldest living football medalist, however, is Petar Radenković, born October 1, 1934, who took silver with Yugoslavia in the tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games. The oldest Olympic champion in football, meanwhile, is Željko Matuš, born August 9, 1935, who also represented Yugoslavia, but did so in 1960.
Because we were unable to post an update yesterday, and because on that day we had two milestone birthdays, we have decided to post a blog entry covering three updates! First, we are wishing a happy belated 97th birthday to Tom Gayford, the oldest living Canadian Olympic champion and Olympic champion in equestrian! Gayford represented Canada in the three-day event at the 1952 and 1960 Summer Olympics without reaching the podium. In 1968 in Mexico City, however, he switched to jumping and won the gold medal with the Canadian team. He also won three medals at the Pan American Games and gold at the 1971 World Championships. He later became an equestrian coach and judge, and also designed the jumping course for the 1976 Montreal Games.
Next, we are wishing a happy 93rd birthday to Jakobína Jakobsdóttir, the oldest living Icelandic Olympian! Jakobína represented her country in three alpine skiing events at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games, where she was 31st in the downhill, 41st in the giant slalom, and disqualified in the slalom. She won a national title in 1953 and was still skiing earlier this year at the age of 92.
As for today, Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Australian rower Dave Anderson, born April 8, 1932, died November 5 at the age of 93. Anderson represented his country in the eights at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a bronze medal. He was also eliminated in the semi-finals of the coxless fours at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. At the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, he captured gold in the coxed fours and bronze in the coxless pairs.
(Bob Shaw, pictured at Welsh Athletics)
Finally, we want to thank the reader who found evidence that British track athlete Bob Shaw, who we covered in our last post as having been last known alive in 2014, was still alive in 2019, and thus he will remain on our tables.
Today on Oldest Olympians, we are continuing to review those Olympians who were last known living in 2014. We were able to cross three names off of our original list, as we discovered all of them being alive within the past year, so that leaves us with 11 to cover. Today we are going to look at the four names born from 1930 through 1932.
Wilson Gomes – Member of Brazil’s track and field athletics delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Wilson Gomes, born July 3, 1930, represented Brazil in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was eliminated in the quarter-finals. He was also entered into the 110 metres hurdles and the 4×100 metres relay, but could not start due to an illness in his throat. One year earlier he had taken silver in the 400 metres hurdles at the Pan American Games, while at the 1955 edition he was the bronze medalist in that event. We had an update that he was still alive in 2014, but have heard nothing since then.
José Flores – Member of the Dutch Antilles’ weightlifting delegation to the 1960 Rome Olympics
José Flores, born December 22, 1930, represented the Netherlands Antilles in the middle-heavyweight weightlifting division at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed 14th. He was the silver medalist in that category at the 1963 Pan American Games, and set two world records in 1963-64. He was last confirmed living in 2014, but we have not seen any further updates.
(Gerry Ronan, pictured at the Toronto Public Library)
Gerry Ronan – Member of Canada’s field hockey team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
Gerry Ronan, born December 10, 1932, represented Canada in the field hockey tournament at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where his nation placed joint-13th out of 15 squads overall. He was still alive – and publishing a book – in 2014, but we have been unable to uncover anything further.
(Bob Shaw, pictured at Welsh Athletics)
Bob Shaw – Member of Great Britain’s track and field athletics delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Games
Bob Shaw, born December 27, 1932, represented Great Britain in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in round one. He represented Wales at two editions of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games – 1954 and 1958 – and won bronze in the 440 yards hurdles at the former edition. Our records have him listed as still alive in 2014, with no further details beyond that.
That is all for today, but we hope that you will join us next time as we continue to explore this topic!
Last year, Oldest Olympians spent three blog entries covering those Olympians for whom we last had evidence of being alive from 2013 and would remove from our tables at the end of the year if we could not find any additional evidence of their being alive. Although we received updates on many of those names, several others have just been removed: Carol Bedö, Enrique Guittens, Tomáš Bauer, Michihiro Ozawa, and Marian Herda. Moving on to this year’s task, our list of individuals from whom we last heard in 2014 is 17 names long, and thus we will again be covering them over multiple blog entries. Today, we will be looking at those Olympians who were born in the 1920s.
(Paul Laporte, pictured at Radio Canada)
Paul Laporte – Member of Canada’s sport shooting delegation to the 1976 Montreal Olympics
Paul Laporte, born May 9, 1928, represented Canada in the skeet shooting event at the 1976 Montreal Games, where he placed joint-56th. He was the 1973 World Champion in this event, but by career he ran the Rôtisserie Laurier in Montreal. He was mentioned as surviving his brother in a 2014 obituary, but since then we have not been able to confirm that he is still alive.
Otto Michtits – Member of Austria’s boxing delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
Otto Michtits, born June 20, 1928, represented Austria in the light-heavyweight division at the 1948 London Games, where he lost his bout in the first round. Although he was the national champion in 1948, 1950, and 1951, he never turned professional. If still alive, he would be the oldest living Olympic boxer, but we have not seen an update on him since an article from 2014.
Benny Schmidt – Denmark’s sole modern pentathlete the 1960 Rome Olympics
Benny Schmidt, born June 25, 1929, represented Denmark in the modern pentathlon at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed 47th and was his nation’s flagbearer in the opening ceremony. He won several national titles across various sports in the 1950s and, by career, was a military officer. When we posted about him in 2023, we were provided evidence that he was still alive in 2014, but we have seen no updates since then.
This will be enough for today, but we hope that you will join us next time as we begin to investigate names that were born in the 1930s!
Today on Oldest Olympians, we want to cover the Olympic mystery of Dutch sailor Jacq (or Jack) van den Berg, born December 19, 1916. While this date of birth means that he is certainly deceased, information on him has been difficult to locate and we are therefore featuring his case in the hopes that someone might have more details.
Thanks to research from Connor Mah, we know that although he was born in Birmingham, England, he was living in Weesp, Netherlands by 1936. He married Jannetje A. Motshagen in 1945, which led to him becoming the brother-in-law of Biem Dudok van Heel, who also married into his wife’s family and would later be part of the van den Berg’s Dragon class crew at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Van den Berg was also selected for the Dragon class at the 1956 Melbourne Games, but the Dutch Olympic Committee withdrew the crew.
Van den Berg and his wife lived in Naarden for two decades, and then Hilversum until at least 1974. After that, his trail disappears, although he was still alive in 2006, prior to his 90th birthday, and was competing in sailing into his 80s. His wife, meanwhile, died in 2018 in Belgium at the age of 96, but there is no indication of what happened to Jack/Jacq. He is not located in Dutch registers of the deceased, either for those who died in the Netherlands or those who died abroad. This makes him a rare case of a Dutch Olympian about whom limited information can be found.
While we are on the subject of the Netherlands, we wanted to recognize an additional Olympic-adjacent centenarian. Henk Blok, born January 4, 1922, served as the coach of the Dutch men’s volleyball team at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, where the nation placed eighth. Credited as the father of that sport in the Netherlands, he died December 8, 2024, at the age of 102. Finally, we want to thank the reader who sent in links to demonstrate that one of the Olympic mysteries from the last post, Germany silver medal-winning cyclist Günter Lörke, was still alive as recently as 2017.
First, we are wishing a happy 95th birthday to Percy Knowles, the oldest living Bahamian Olympian! Knowles represented his country in three sailing classes across four editions of the Games, 1960 through 1972, with a best finish of fifth in the Star class in 1968. A businessman by career, he also served as Commodore of the Nassau Yacht Club and competed in masters-level swimming events into his 80s.
Secondly, we are wishing a happy 91st birthday to Lothar Milde, the oldest living Olympian to have represented East Germany as a separate entity! Milde competed in the discus throw at three consecutive editions of the Games, in 1960 and 1964 for a unified Germany, and in 1968 for an independent East German delegation, where he won the silver medal. He won six national titles between 1961 and 1971, and later served as a politician in East and reunified Germany.
(Günter Lörke)
While we are on the topic, it is worth mentioning two other East Germans that we have listed as Olympic mysteries. The first is Günter Lörke, born June 23, 1935, who won a silver medal for unified Germany in the 100 kilometers team time trial at the 1960 Rome Games. He captured a national team title in 1958, but we have been unable to locate confirmation that he is still alive. The other is Heinrich Hagen, born December 7, 1935, who came in 24th in the marathon for unified Germany at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. A Find-a-Grave page lists someone with his name and birth year as having died in 2018, but we cannot determine if this individual was the Olympian.
Today on Oldest Olympians, we want to cover some recent deaths of Olympic titleholders. The most prominent of them was French cyclist Charles Coste, born February 8, 1924, who died October 30 at the age of 101. 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.
(Nikita Simonyan)
At the time of his death, Coste was most notably the oldest living Olympic champion, a distinction that now goes to Soviet footballer Nikita Simonyan, born October 12, 1926, who was a member of the squad that won the tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Coste also shared a birthday with Wu Chengzhang, who is now the oldest survivor of the 1948 London Olympics, as he represented China in the basketball tournament.
(Colette Fanara)
Formerly the oldest living French Olympian, Coste’s successor in that regard is French gymnast Colette Fanara, born February 15, 1925, who competed at the 1952 Helsinki Games. The oldest living French Olympic medallist is Daniel Dagallier, born June 11, 1926, who took part in épée fencing at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Games, and won bronze in the team event at the latter edition. The oldest living French Olympic champion is now Jean Laudet, born August 5, 1930, who won the C-2 10,000 canoeing event in 1952.
(James Lauf)
Finally, Coste was also the oldest living Olympic cyclist, a distinction that now goes to American James Lauf, born November 1, 1927, who competed in the team pursuit, 4,000 metres event at the 1952 Helsinki Games. The oldest living Olympic cycling medalist is now Germany’s Gustav-Adolf Schur, born February 23, 1931, who won bronze in the team road race in 1956 and silver in the 100 kilometers team time trial in 1960. The oldest living Olympic cycling champion, Michel Vermeulin, born September 6, 1934, also represented France, but is over a decade younger than Coste.
(Günther Twiesselmann)
We also learned that German rower Günther Twiesselmann, born August 15, 1925, died September 24 at the age of 100. Twiesselmann represented Germany in the coxed fours at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was eliminated in the first round repêchage. Domestically, he won four titles in that event from 1949 through 1952, as well as a coxless fours title in 1951. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic rower, a distinction that now belongs to Tony Purssell, born July 5, 1926, who represented Great Britain in the coxed fours at the 1948 London Games.
(Reg Gaffley)
Additionally, we were saddened to learn of the death of an Olympian who went beneath our radar: South African weightlifter Reg Gaffley, born September 1, 1927, died August 1 at the age of 97. Gaffley represented his country in the bantamweight division at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where he placed seventh. Two years later he captured that title at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Although we did not know it, he was the oldest living Olympian to have represented South Africa at the time of his death, which leaves that distinction to silver medal-winning track athlete Daphne Robb-Hasenjäger, born July 2, 1929.
Finally, a year has passed and we were unable to confirm the 100th birthday of Pakistani field hockey player Anwar Baig, who was born in November 1924 and represented his country in the tournament at the 1948 London Olympics, and thus we have removed him from our tables. This leaves Muhammad Ashraf, born October 11, 1927, who competed in the lightweight, freestyle wrestling tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games, as the oldest living Olympian to have represented Pakistan. Baig was also the oldest living Olympic field hockey player, a title that now goes to 1960 Danish player Villy Moll Nielsen, born November 22, 1927.
