Today we were hoping to celebrate the 101st birthday of Yoshio Iimuro as the oldest living Japanese Olympian and Olympic track and field athlete. Iimuro represented his country in the triple jump at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he placed sixth. He had better luck at the Asian Games, where he won gold in that event in 1951 and silver in 1954. Unfortunately, we have not seen any confirmation of his 100th birthday and thus we have had to remove him from our lists.
(Masaji Tajima, pictured at Getty Images)
This leaves Masaji Tajima, born April 5, 1929, as the oldest living Japanese Olympian. Tajima represented his country in four events across two editions of the Games: the 100 metres and the long jump in 1952, and the 4×100 metres relay and the long jump in 1956. He was also an alternate in the 4×400 metres relay at the former edition. Tajima was a three-time Asian Games champion, winning the 4×100 metres relay in 1951 and 1954, and the long jump in 1951. He was the national champion in the long jump from 1950 through 1953.
As for the oldest living track and field athlete, that distinction now goes to André Marie of France, born October 14, 1925. Marie represented his country in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1948 London Games, where he failed to complete his semi-final heat. He had better luck at the 1950 European Championships, where he won the gold medal, and he later worked as an architectural designer, while also serving as an athletics administrator.
While we are blogging, we also wanted to mention a 1935 Olympic mystery that we missed in our last post. Pradip Bose, who was born c. 1935, represented India in cycling’s road race at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but failed to finish the course. This is all that we know about him, but an anonymous user added a date of death of January 20, 2023 to his (now removed) Wikipedia page. We have, however, been unable to confirm this.