On Oldest Olympians, we often cover some of the more obscure Olympians, both living and possibly living. As our Olympic medal mysteries series has shown, however, even more prominent competitors can have their later lives obscured by time. Often, however, these medalists are participants in team sports, so it can be understandable how they may have lived the rest of their lives outside of the public eye.

When an athlete is notable enough to have competed at five editions of the Olympic Games, however, it is somewhat more surprising if we cannot locate many additional details of their lives. We currently have two individuals on our lists who have competed at that many tournaments, yet we cannot even determine if they are alive or deceased for certain. We covered one of them, fencer Jacques Lefèvre, in our series about bronze medal mysteries, and came to the conclusion that he was probably still living, but with the proof concealed by his common name. This conclusion was strengthened by his absence in the recently released French Death Index. Today, we wanted to look into the other, Roberto Sieburger, who is much more likely to be deceased, yet we still cannot find any information on his death.

Sieburger, born February 26, 1917, was a notable sailor in his own right. At the Olympics, he represented Argentina in three different classes: Dragon (1948 and 1952), 5.5 metres (1960), and Star (1964 and 1968), finishing just off the podium twice in 1952 and 1960. He also took part in at least one more international tournament, the 1963 Star World Championships, although he finished far down the list in 52^nd.

(Roberto’s father Julio)

Beyond this, however, Sieburger was also a member of a notable sailing family, six of whom (including Roberto) competed at the Games and three of whom won silver medals: his father Julio and uncle Enrique Sr. in the 6 metres class in 1948 and his brother-in-law Jorge Alberto del Río in the Dragon class in 1960. Two other cousins, Carlos and Enrique Jr., placed fourth in the 5.5 metres event in 1960.

Despite this prominence, the above is about the limit of what we know about Roberto. He earned a PhD in chemistry and worked in that industry, garnering additional notability in this field. This also helps us learn that he was still alive in 1975. Beyond this, however, we have surprisingly hit a wall, despite his uncommon name, and thus we must end this entry without even a hint of what might have become of him. If anyone out there knows any additional details, we would be very grateful to learn them.