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 93rd 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.