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 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. 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 101^st birthday of German swimmer Erna Herbers. Herbers represented her country in the 100 metres backstroke at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she placed 18^th. Unfortunately, we have not been able to confirm her 100^th 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 100^th 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 13^th.

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 25^th. 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.