Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays to celebrate as last year, so we will once again cover them both in a blog entry!
First we are wishing a happy 98th birthday to Sheila Lerwill, the oldest living British Olympic medalist and Olympic medalist in track and field athletics! Lerwill represented her country in the high jump at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she won a silver medal. She was European champion in that event in 1950 and came in fourth at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. After coming in fifth at that year’s Europeans, she retired from active competition.
Second, we are wishing a happy 97th birthday to Fritz Nachmann, the oldest living Olympic luger, survivor of the 1968 Grenoble Games, and German medalist! Nachmann represented West Germany in 1968 and won a bronze medal in the doubles while placing 17th in the singles. Four years earlier he had represented a unified Germany at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics, but did not finish in the singles. He won silver in the singles at the 1967 Europeans and five medals, including three golds, at the Worlds.
Finally, we have an update on an Olympian that we featured previously as an Olympic mystery: Chilean track athlete Rodolfo Wagner. Wagner represented his country in the 100 metres event at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, where he was eliminated in round one. We knew little more about him than that but, thanks to Connor Mah, we have learned that he was born July 3, 1904 in Coquimbo and died in March 1984 in Santiago.