Two days ago, Oldest Olympians celebrated what we believed to be the 99th birthday of Adolf Hafner, who we thought was the oldest living Olympic ice hockey player and survivor of the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics. Hafner represented Austria in the tournament at the 1956 Games, where his country placed 10th and last. He was also a reserve on the squad in 1948, but did not see any playing time. He had more luck at the 1947 World Championships, where he took home bronze, and he captured five national titles between 1948 and his 1956 retirement.
Research by Connor Mah, however, turned up that Hafner had unfortunately died back on April 23, 2019 at the age of 93. This means, firstly, that Trude Klecker, born February 7, 1926, is the oldest survivor of the 1956 Winter Olympics. Klecker represented her country in the downhill and giant slalom at the 1952 and 1956 Winter Games, with a best finish of fourth in the giant slalom in 1952. She was more successful at the World Championships, taking gold in the slalom and silver in the downhill in 1954. Domestically, she won all four alpine skiing events at the 1953 national championships, and also captured Austrian titles in the giant slalom in 1954 and 1956, and the combined in the latter year. She now lives in Trieste, Italy.
(Eugeniusz Lewacki, pictured at hokej.net)
The oldest living ice hockey player, meanwhile, is Eugeniusz Lewacki, born January 24, 1926, who was already the oldest living Polish Olympian. Lewacki was a member of Poland’s ice hockey squad at the 1948 and 1952 Winter Olympics, where his nation finished sixth overall both times. This was part of an extensive career that also saw him represent Poland at the 1955 World Championships and play domestically for KTH Krynica from 1947 through 1953. During that period, he won the national championship in 1950 and was runner up in 1949, 1951, and 1953. After two years with Gwardia Bydgoszcz, who were national runners-up in 1954 and 1955, he returned to KTH Krynica and ended his career with them in 1957. He resides in Kraków.