Due to travel-related issues, we were unable to post Oldest Olympians yesterday, so today we are going to make up for that with two updates!

(Jindřich Mikulec)

First, Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Czech gymnast Jindřich Mikulec, born May 11, 1928, died July 7 at the age of 98. Mikulec represented his country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was seventh with the team and had a best finish of joint-24^th individually in the floor exercise. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympian to have represented Czechoslovakia. That distinction now goes to one of Mikulec’s teammates, Ferdinand Daniš, born January 7, 1929.

Next, we have two milestone birthdays to celebrate, beginning with Jamaican track athlete Hyacinth Walters, who is turning 100! Walters represented her country in the 100 and 200 metres track events at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but was eliminated in the first round of both. She had much more success at the Central American and Caribbean Games, winning seven medals, three of which were gold, between 1946 and 1954. She later became a teacher and is now the oldest living Jamaican Olympian!

Finally, we are wishing a happy 98^th birthday to Hans Andersson-Tvilling, the oldest living Olympic ice hockey medalist! Andersson-Tvilling won bronze for his country at the 1952 Oslo Games and just missed a second medal in 1956 after Sweden lost the bronze medal match to Canada. He won the World Championships in 1953, also taking silver in in 1951, and captured European Championship titles in 1951 and 1953, in addition to bronze in 1955. Domestically, he was a four-time national Swedish champion with Djurgårdens IF. His twin brother Stig had a similar record in the sport, including the Olympic bronze.

Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays to celebrate as last year so, as usual, we are covering them both in a blog entry!

(Cheng Chi-Sen at Chineseoverseas.org)

First we are wishing Taiwanese sport shooter Cheng Chi-Sen a happy 100^th birthday! Cheng represented his country in the free pistol, 50 metres events at the 1968 Mexico City Games, where he placed 56^th. A police officer by career, he also competed at the 1966 Asian Games and later moved to San Francisco, where he ran a catering business. He is now the oldest survivor of the 1968 Summer Olympics, the oldest Olympian to have represented Chinese Taipei, and the oldest Olympic sport shooter!

(Akın Altıok from a Youtube video)

Next, we are wishing Akın Altıok a happy 94^rd birthday as the oldest living Turkish Olympian! Altıok represented his country in the triple jump at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was eliminated in the qualifying round. One year earlier, he had won that event at the 1951 Mediterranean Games.

We also want to mention an Olympic mystery that we meant to cover previously, that of Dave Chapman, born August 21, 1936. Chapman represented his country in the steeplechase at the 1960 Rome Games, where he was eliminated in round one. He never won a national title, but was runner-up in the 3000 metres steeplechase in 1960 and 1962. According to the England and Wales Death Index, an individual of his full name who was born August 21, 1935 died in 1972 in Kent, but we have no definitive evidence as to whether or not this was the Olympian, with just his birth one year off.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we want to cover two milestone birthdays and two deaths among the oldest Olympian titleholders. While normally we would hope to split these topics up, the unfortunate number of deaths means that we want to cover all of them before the news gets too old.

First, however, the birthdays, beginning with the oldest Irish Olympian, Harry Byrne, who is turning 97! Byrne represented his country in Dragon-class sailing at the 1972 Munich Games, where he placed 16^th. This was just a small part of a long career full of domestic successes and international appearances, such as the 1973 European Championships.

(Hasenjäger, pictured far left, in the Life Photo Collection)

The oldest South African Olympian, Daphne Robb-Hasenjäger, is also turning 97 today! Hasenjäger began her career in the aftermath of World War II as Daphne Robb. Her first major international appearance came at the 1948 London Olympics, where she was eliminated in the semifinals of the 100 metres and placed sixth in the 200 metres. In 1949 she ran the 100 yards in 10.7 seconds, then a world record, but it was not recognized due to assistance from the wind. Robb’s achievements became more notable in the 1950s, as she won a bronze medal in the 220 yards event at the 1950 British Empire Games and then, after marrying a fellow athlete and becoming Daphne Hasenjäger, earned a silver medal in the 100 metres at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Moving on to the recently deceased, Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Mahmoud Mollaghasemi, born April 5, 1929, died June 30 at the age of 97. 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. At the time of his death, Mollaghasemi was the oldest living Iranian Olympian; that distinction now goes to Mohamed Bayati, born May 5, 1932, who represented his country in the football tournament at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

Oldest Olympians is also saddened to learn that Tan Liong Houw, born July 26, 1930, died June 29 at the age of 95. Tan represented his country in the football tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in the quarterfinals. He also represented Indonesia at three editions of the Asian Games, winning bronze in 1958. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Indonesian Olympian, a title that now passes to Tan Tjong Sian, born April 26, 1931, who represented his country in Flying Dutchman-class sailing at the 1968 Mexico City Games.

Finally, while we are reporting on deaths, we have an update for 1948 South Korean hammer thrower Gin Gang-Hwan, born January 7, 1917. Connor Mah has discovered that his name was actually In Gang-Hwan, and that he died July 14, 1994, at the age of 77.