Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that British speed skater Henry Howes, born October 11, 1928, died in September at the age of 96. Howes represented his country in four events at the 1948 St. Moritz Games, with a best finish of 18th in the 1500 metres. Domestically, he won four British titles between 1946 and 1949, but then retired from active competition.
(Henry Howes, pictured at Getty Images)
At the time of his death, Howes was the oldest living Olympic speed skater. That distinction now goes to Kim Jong-Sun, born January 23, 1931. Kim represented South Korea in three events at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games, with a best finish of 30th in the 10,000 metres. An injury ended his career the following year, but he later served as an administrator with the Korean Ice Skating Federation before moving to Los Angeles in 1992.
On the subject of South Korea, we also wanted to raise an Olympic mystery, that of Lee Sang-cheol, born November 1, 1935. Lee represented his country in the marathon at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed 47th. We were able to locate the October 2018 obituary of an individual by this name who was chairman of the Korean Athletics Federation, which seems likely to be him, but as the notice does not mention Olympic participation, or even an age, we cannot be certain.