Between today and tomorrow, Oldest Olympians has four milestone birthdays that we want to share and celebrate. Rather than decide which to feature, and feature someone well after their birthday, we have decided to mention all four of them in a single blog post!
(Tattersall, pictured at Horizon Yacht Charters)
First, we want to wish a happy 96th birthday today to sailor Robin Tattersall! Tattersall represented the British Virgin Islands in two editions of the Soling class tournament, placing 21st in 1984 and 17th in 1992. He was the oldest sailing competitor at the latter Games and is now the oldest living survivor of that edition, in addition to being the oldest living competitor for his nation overall. By career he was a surgeon, working for the government until 1973, after which he founded his own clinic. During the 1950s, he had a career as a model and in 2001 he was awarded an OBE for his services to medicine. He has continued to sail and run marathons into his 80s.
Next, we are wishing Monegasque sport shooter Gilbert Scorsolio a happy 94th birthday today! Scorsolio represented his country in the small-bore rifle three positions, 50 meters and prone, 50 meters events at the 1960 and 1968 Summer Olympics respectively, where he placed joint-61st and 85th respectively. By career, he was in the real estate business and he is now the oldest living Monegasque Olympian.
Tomorrow, Canada ice hockey player Jack McKenzie will be turning 96! McKenzie represented his country in the tournament at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games, where he won a bronze medal. He was active in the amateur ranks from 1947 through 1959, and won a gold medal at the World Championships in 1958. He later worked as a high school teacher. He is now the oldest living Canadian Olympic medalist!
Finally, Leon Rotman will be turning 92 tomorrow as the oldest living Romanian Olympic champion! Rotman represented his country in three canoeing events across two editions of the Games and won medals in all of them. In 1956 he was a double Olympic champion in the C-1 1000 and C-1 10,000 competitions, while in 1960 he was a bronze medalist in the C-1 1000 tournament. Domestically, he won 14 national titles, and he later worked as a coach.
Finally, we wanted to update our information on José Flores, who represented the Netherlands Antilles in the middle-heavyweight weightlifting division at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed 14th. He was the silver medalist in that category at the 1963 Pan American Games, and set two world records in 1963-64. We noted him as last confirmed living in 2014, and Connor Mah discovered that he was actually born December 22, 1936 and died January 9, 2017.