Oldest Olympians will once again be travelling with limited internet connectivity for the next week so, rather than miss an update, we have decided to post a blog entry today that will cover one Olympian for every day that we suspect we will be absent (February 19–27).

During this time, we will have four milestone birthdays, albeit spread over only two days. First, Egyptian rower Wagih El-Attar will turn 98 on February 22! El-Attar represented his country in the coxed fours rowing event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where Egypt was eliminated in the round one repêchage. He had better luck at the 1955 Mediterranean Games, where he captured bronze in the coxed pairs. He is now the oldest living Egyptian Olympian.

(Micheline Desmazières, pictured at La Voix du Nord)

We then have three milestone birthdays on February 23. First, French alpine skier Micheline Desmazières will be turning 100! Desmazières represented her country in the downhill at the 1948 St. Moritz Games, where she placed 29^th. She also competed in three events at the 1950 World Championships, while domestically she was a two-time national champion in the slalom (1947 and 1949).

Additionally, (West) German equestrian Harry Boldt will turn 96! Boldt competed in two editions of the Olympic dressage competition, representing unified Germany in 1964 in Tokyo and West Germany in 1976 in Montreal. Both times, he earned gold in the team competition and silver individually. At the World Championships, he earned silver individually in 1966 and gold with the team in 1966 and 1978, as well as team silver in 1970. He collected an additional 11 medals, five of them gold, at the European Championships between 1963 and 1979, and retired in 1980. He then served as a coach until 1996 and is now the oldest living German Olympic champion.

Our third birthday for the 23^rd comes courtesy of (East) German cyclist Gustav-Adolf Schur, who will be turning 95! Schur represented his country in four events across two editions of the Games, 1956 and 1960, winning bronze in the team road race at the former edition and silver in the 100 kilometers team time trial at the latter. He also captured numerous national titles and served as a politician from 1958 through 2002, taking a break only between 1990 and 1998 during the reunification of Germany.

Next, thanks to Wojciech Nowakowski, we received an update that Polish sport shooter Czesław Zając, born January 20, 1927, is still alive at the age of 99 as the oldest living Polish Olympian! Zając represented his country in the rapid-fire pistol, 25 metres event at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed seventh. He won a bronze medal in that event at the 1963 European Championships and captured 13 national titles across two disciplines between 1955 and 1966.

For the remaining entries, we want to highlight three of the oldest Olympians that we have not yet featured. First is French canoer Fredy Grosheny, born July 27, 1935. Grosheny represented France in the first round of the Kayak Relay, 4×500 metres event at the 1960 Rome Games, before being replaced by Jean Friquet. The team went on to be eliminated in the repêchage. We do not know much else about him, but he was still living as of his 86^th birthday in 2021.

Next we have Danish sport shooter Niels Petersen, born September 8, 1932. Petersen represented his country in the small-bore rifle, three positions and prone, 50 metres events at the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics, with a best finish of 13^th in the three positions in Tokyo. As with Grosheny, we could not find much additional information about him, but we do know that he was still alive in 2025 at the age of 93.

Finally, we are going to end with another Danish competitor, swimmer Gerda Olsen, born June 12, 1932. Olsen represented her country in the 100 metres backstroke at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she placed 14^th. She was also a reserve with the 4×100 metres freestyle relay, but did not take part in that event. She had better luck at the 1950 European Championships, where she took silver in the relay.

The tables will not be updated during our absence, but we look forward to returning on February 28 to continue cover the Oldest Olympians! We hope that you will join us!

Today Oldest Olympians is celebrating the same two milestone birthdays as last year! The first is French gymnast Colette Fanara who is turning 101 as the oldest French Olympian and oldest Olympic gymnast! Fanara represented her country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she had a best individual finish of 85th in the uneven bars. By career she was a physical education teacher and gymnastics instructor. Her grandson Thomas Fanara was a three-time Olympian in alpine skiing and Colette now resides in Nice.

(Carlos Caballero, pictured at El Heraldo)

Next, we are wishing a happy 99th birthday to Carlos Caballero, the oldest living Olympic weightlifter! Cabaellero represented Colombia in the middleweight division at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Games, but did not win a medal. He was also selected for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but did not make the trip after budget cuts. Following his 1970 retirement, he turned to coaching.

Finally, thanks again to Connor Mah, we have an update on another Olympic mystery. Gymnast Carol Bedö, born December 13, 1930, was potentially the oldest living Romanian Olympian, but we had not seen an update for him since 2013, and thus we removed him from our tables. It turns out that Bedö died February 3, 2020, at the age of 89.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Finnish sailor Freddy Ehrström, born August 29, 1925, died January 21 at the age of 100. Ehrström, alongside Rolf Zachariassen, represented his country in the Star class at the 1960 Rome Games, where the duo placed 14^th. Ehrström was a four-time national champion in this event (1952, 1959, 1960, and 1971) and later worked as an administrator and judge with the International Sailing Federation.

At the time of his death, Ehrström was the oldest living Finnish Olympian and oldest living Olympic sailor. The new titleholder in the former category is track and field athlete Rainer Pelkonen, born April 19, 1928. Pelkonen represented his country in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was eliminated in the quarter-finals. He was also selected for the 800 metres, but did not start the event. Domestically, he won 11 relay titles, as well as the hurdles title in 1952, and he later worked as a physical education teacher. He continued to compete at the masters’ level into his 80s.

In the latter category, the new titleholder is Australian Gordon Ingate, born March 29, 1926. Ingate represented his country in the Tempest class at the 1972 Munich Games, where he placed 19^th. That same year, he was runner-up to Ted Turner in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, but he continued competing in national championships into his 90s, even winning a Dragon class title in 2018 at the age of 91. He is also Australia’s oldest living Olympian.

Finally, as an update to a previous report on a potential Olympic centenarian, Connor Mah discovered that Yoshio Iimuro, born January 18, 1925, who was potentially the oldest living Japanese Olympian, actually died in October 2023. He therefore died at the age of 98 and did not become a centenarian.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we have two milestone birthdays to celebrate so, as usual, we are going to cover both in a single blog entry!

First, we are wishing a happy 100^th birthday to Trude Klecker, the oldest survivor of the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games! Klecker represented Austria in the downhill and the giant slalom in both 1952 and 1956, and just missed the podium in fourth in the giant slalom in 1952. She was more successful at the 1954 World Championships, where she won the slalom and took silver in the downhill. She was also a seven-time national champion across various disciplines, and later became a German language teacher.

We are also celebrating the 95^th birthday of Dick Deaver, the oldest living Olympic sailing medalist! Deaver represented the United States in the Dragon class at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where he won the bronze medal. By career, he was a sailmaker.

On the topic of the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games, we have an update on an Olympian that we discussed many years ago. Mahmoud Beiglou, born in 1929, represented Iran in three alpine skiing events at those Games and was still alive in 2010. By 2020, however, we had not seen further updates from him and thus removed him from our tables. As it turns out, however, Beiglou died well before turning 90, on January 18, 2013.