Today on Oldest Olympians, we are going to look at some new Olympic missing links. These are individuals for whom we have suggestions for a date or year of death, but for whom we cannot confirm the information through reliable sources. For now, we are going to cover four cases that we have accumulated since the last entry in this series.

First we have Thai boxer Chune Pattapong, born in 1927. Pattapong represented his country in the light-welterweight division at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in round one. This is the extent of our knowledge about him, but someone added a year of death of 2000 to his Wikipedia page with no source. Since we are unable to confirm this information, it makes Pattapong an Olympic missing link.

Next we have Turkish track and field athlete Hakan Eper, born in 1931. Eper was selected to represent his country in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but did not start the event. Once again, this is all that we know about him, although we did locate an obituary for an individual by this name who was born February 1, 1934 and died January 9, 2024. Unfortunately, there was no information that could connect him to the Olympian.

Next we are covering Guatemalan wrestler Aristides Pérez, born August 31, 1933. Pérez represented his country as a light-weight in both the Greco-Roman and the freestyle, but did not reach the podium in either event. He had better luck at the 1954 Central American and Caribbean Games, where he took bronze in the freestyle. We located a record of an Aristides Perez Mejia who died May 9, 1995 at the correct age, but have not been able to prove that he is the Olympian.

Finally, we are looking at another Thai Olympian, Montri Srinaka, born in 1934. Srinaka represented his country in the 200 metres and 4×100 metres relay track events at the 1956 Melbourne Games, but was eliminated in the first round of both. He also competed in the 4×100 metres at the 1954 Asian Games, but did not win a medal. We were able to locate the record of an individual by this name who died in 2023 at the age of 91, but could not verify that he was the Olympian.

Today on Oldest Olympians we have another new pairing of milestone birthdays to celebrate, so it is time once again to cover both in a single blog post!

First, we are wishing Iranian wrestler Mahmoud Mollaghasemi a happy 97^th birthday! Mollaghasemi represented his country in the flyweight, freestyle event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a bronze medal. He also earned a silver medal in that event at the 1951 World Championships. He later turned to coaching and was a judge at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He is now the oldest living Iranian Olympian!

(Masaji Tajima, pictured at Getty Images)

We want to wish Japanese track and field athlete Masaji Tajima a happy 97^th birthday as well! 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 and is now the oldest living Japanese Olympian!

(Junko Nishida)

Additionally, on the subject of Japanese track and field athletes, we wanted to provide an additional update from Connor Mah. Thanks to his research, we have learned that Junko Nishida, born November 3, 1915, who took part in the high jump at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, died September 30, 1942. Finally, Mah also discovered that Japanese weightlifter Isamu Shiraishi, born December 18, 1920, who took part in the bantamweight tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, died in 2015.

Today on Oldest Olympians we have a new pair of birthdays to celebrate so, as usual, we are going to cover both in a single blog post!

First, we are wishing a happy birthday to Swedish cross-country skier Irma Johansson, who is turning 94 today! Johansson represented her country in the 10 kilometers and relay events at the 1956 and 1960 Winter Olympics, winning bronze and gold in the relays in those years respectively. Her sole national title came in the 3×5 kilometer relay in 1960, and by career she was a professional gardener. She is now the oldest living Olympic medalist in cross-country skiing.

Then, we are wishing American basketball player Rom Tomsic a happy 93^rd birthday! Tomsic represent his country in the tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where the United States won gold. Domestically, he had been a member of the Standford University team. and he is now the oldest living Olympic basketball medalist!

(Robert Geiser)

Finally, on the topic of basketball, we wanted to share some updates regarding previous Olympic mysteries. Connor Mah was able to verify that, as suggested in an earlier post, Swiss basketballer Marcel Moget, born April 23, 1931, died in December 2018. He was also able to confirm that 1948 Swiss basketballer Robert Geiser was the individual who was born in 1919 and died December 17, 1981. He also located information that Geiser’s teammate Bernard Dutoit was born in 1923 and died October 23, 2000. Finally, Mah was also able to locate biographical details on two South Korean basketball players from 1948: Bang Won-sun was born in 1917 and died August 28, 1986, while Lee Jun-yeong was also born c. 1917 and died March 13, 1969.