For the second time in less than a month, Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn of the death of the oldest living Olympic champion: Nikita Simonyan, born October 12, 1926, died November 23 at the age of 99. Simonyan represented the Soviet Union in the football tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he won a gold medal. He also competed at the 1958 World Cup and won the top league title four times, as well as the Soviet Cup twice. He later became a successful coach domestically and for the national team.

The oldest living Olympic champion is now Gábor Benedek, born March 23, 1927. After serving in World War II, Benedek made his Olympic debut at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a silver medal in the individual event and, with the help of his countrymen, gold in the team tournament. He made a second appearance in 1956, where Hungary missed the podium in fourth and, individually, Benedek was sixth. He was also an individual World Champion in 1953 and a winner with the Hungarian team in 1954. For political reasons, he was banned from competing after 1959 and thus he took up coaching. He later emigrated to West Germany, where he remained until the end of the Cold War.

(Rudolf Plyukfelder)

At the time of his death, Simonyan was also the oldest living Soviet Olympic champion and Olympic footballer. The former title now goes to Rudolf Plyukfelder, born September 6, 1928, who won a gold medal in the light-heavyweight weightlifting tournament at the 1964 Tokyo Games. For football, the oldest living player overall is now Léon Letsch, born May 23, 1927, who represented Luxembourg in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The oldest living football medalist, however, is Petar Radenković, born October 1, 1934, who took silver with Yugoslavia in the tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games. The oldest Olympic champion in football, meanwhile, is Željko Matuš, born August 9, 1935, who also represented Yugoslavia, but did so in 1960.