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.
