Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays as the past three years, so we are again continuing our trend of covering both in a single blog post rather than choosing between them!
First, we want to wish a happy 96th birthday to Miguel Seijas, the oldest living Uruguayan Olympian! Seijas represented his country in the double sculls at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Games, winning bronze in the former and being eliminated in the round one repêchage in the latter.
Second, Chiharu Igaya is turning 95 as Japan’s oldest Olympic medalist! Igaya represented his country in nine alpine skiing events across three editions of the Games – 1952, 1956, and 1960 – and won a silver medal in the slalom in 1956. He also took bronze at the World Championships in that event in 1958. By career he worked in insurance, but also served in sport administration, most notably as a member of the IOC since 1982.
(Lee Sang-Cheol)
Finally, we want to thank the reader who found evidence that French track athlete Jocelyn Delecour, born January 2, 1935, who we covered in our last post, was still alive at his 90th birthday. On the opposite end, Connor Mah was able to confirm that the Lee Sang-Cheol who died in October 2018 was the Olympian who was born November 1, 1935 and represented South Korea in the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics. He also discovered that track athlete Lee Yun-seok, who represented South Korea in two events in London in 1948, was born in 1924, and thus could still be living, even if it is unlikely. This is not true of Mah’s other athletics discovery, which was for Swiss athlete Ernst Günther, who competed in the 5000 metres at the London Games, and was apparently born in 1914.
Today on Oldest Olympians, we are blogging about a subject that we have not discussed in some time: Olympic medal mysteries. These are individuals who won medals at the Games and would be over the age of 90, but for whom we have been unable to locate evidence as to whether they are alive or deceased.
The first is Pakistani field hockey player Bashir Ahmed, born December 23, 1934. Ahmed represented his country in the tournament at the 1960 Rome Olympics, where he won a gold medal. He earned another victory with the team at the 1962 Asian Games. Despite these achievements, we have been unable to ascertain further information on Ahmed, perhaps because of his relatively common name.
Next we have Danish sailor Ole Gunnar Petersen, born December 30, 1934. Petersen represented his country in the Flying Dutchman class, alongside Hans Fogh, at two editions of the Games, 1960 and 1964, winning silver in the former and coming in fourth at the latter. Despite these achievements, as well his partnership with one of the most well-known Olympic sailors, we have been unable to find more about Petersen, again possibly due to his relatively common name.
Finally, we are featuring French track athlete Jocelyn Delecour, born January 2, 1935. Delecour represented his country in eight events across four editions of the Games, 1956-1968, winning bronze in the 4×100 metres relay in 1964 and 1968. He was European champion in that event in 1966, and also took bronze in the 200 metres and silver in the 100 metres in 1958 and 1962. A silver medalist in the relay at the 1963 Mediterranean Games, he was also an eight-time French national champion across various disciplines and later served on the administrative role in the sport. Delecour does not appear in the French national death index, so we suspect that he is likely still alive, but we have not seen a source that confirms this.
Over the past week, Oldest Olympians has learned about three deaths among the oldest Olympian titleholders. We are therefore dedicating a blog entry to covering all of them and their successors.
(Gordon Ingate)
The first is Australian sailor Gordon Ingate, born March 29, 1926, who died April 24 at the age of 100. Ingate represented his country in the Tempest class at the 1972 Munich Games, where he placed 19th. 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. At the time of his death, Ingate was the oldest living Australian Olympian, a title that now goes to Bryan Harper, born July 12, 1927, who represented his country in two canoe sprint events at the 1956 Melbourne Games.
On the same day, Soviet weightlifter Rudolf Plyukfelder, born September 6, 1928, also died. Plyukfelder represented his country in the light-heavyweight division at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where he won the gold medal. He was also World Champion in 1959, 1961, and 1964, and European Champion from 1959-1961. Domestically, he won the Soviet title from 1958 through 1963. Following his retirement from active competition, he turned to coaching.
(Jim George)
At the time of his death, Plyukfelder was the oldest living Soviet Olympic champion and weightlifting medalist. For the former title, the new holder is Vitaly Kovalenko, born March 17, 1934, who won a gold medal with the Soviet volleyball team at the 1964 Tokyo Games. In the latter category, the only living Olympic weightlifting medalist over the age of 90 that we know of is Jim George, born June 1, 1935. George represented the United States as a light-heavyweight, winning bronze in 1956 and silver in 1960.
Finally, Canadian equestrian Tom Gayford, born November 21, 1928, died April 26 at the age of 97. Gayford represented Canada in the three-day event at the 1952 and 1960 Summer Olympics without reaching the podium. In 1968 in Mexico City, however, he switched to jumping and won the gold medal with the Canadian team. He also won three medals at the Pan American Games and gold at the 1971 World Championships. He later became an equestrian coach and judge, and also designed the jumping course for the 1976 Montreal Games.
(Harry Boldt)
At the time of his death, Gayford was the oldest living Olympic champion in equestrian and the oldest living Canadian Olympic medalist. For the former title, the new holder is Harry Boldt, born February 23, 1930, who won dressage team gold and individual silver for (West) Germany at the 1964 Tokyo and 1976 Montreal Games. For the latter, the new holder is Jack McKenzie, born July 22, 1930, who took bronze in the ice hockey tournament at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games. The new oldest living Canadian Olympic champion, however, is Peter Kirby, born December 17, 1931, who was part of the winning four-man bobsleigh team at the 1964 Innsbruck Games.
While we are on the topic of Olympic weightlifters, we wanted to mention an update provided to us on an Olympian that we have mentioned previously, Na Si-Yun. Na took silver as middleweight at the 1954 Asian Games, after having placed seventh as a lightweight at the 1948 London Olympics. We previously had no biographical data on Na, but thanks to Connor Mah we learned that he was born in 1920, making him possibly still alive (although this is very unlikely).
Today on Oldest Olympians, we were hoping to celebrate the 101st birthday of German swimmer Erna Herbers. Herbers represented her country in the 100 metres backstroke at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she placed 18th. Unfortunately, we have not been able to confirm her 100th birthday in over a year, and thus we must remove her from our tables pending additional information.
(Walter Konrad)
We believed that Herbers was the oldest living German Olympian, as well as the oldest living Olympic swimmer. The former title in theory goes to Günther Haase, born June 11, 1925, who won a bronze medal in platform diving at the same Games. Unfortunately, we do not have 100th birthday confirmation for him either, which means that he too will soon be removed from our tables. This would leave Walter Konrad, born July 4, 1928, as the oldest living German Olympian. Konrad represented his country in the 10,000 metres track event at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he placed 13th.
The latter title now goes to Gail Peters, born June 23, 1929. Peters represented the United States in the 200 metres breaststroke at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she placed 25th. She won several national titles in her youth, then returned as a master’s swimmer and dominated her events for over a decade, winning 30 titles.
Finally, while we are on the topic, we also have a German Olympic mystery. Hinrich John, born May 11, 1936, represented (West) Germany in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1964 and 1968 Summer Games, being eliminated in the semifinals both times. He was a silver medalist in that event at the 1966 European Championships, and won the national title five times from 1964 through 1968. One website lists a year of death for him as 2018, but the reliability of the source is unclear and we can find no additional evidence indicating whether he is alive or deceased.
