Today on Oldest Olympians we again have the same two milestone birthdays, so we are continuing our tradition of providing blog post to cover both in lieu of choosing between them!
First, we are wishing Sri Lankan track athlete John De Saram a happy 96th birthday! De Saram represented his country at the 1948 London Olympics, where he was eliminated in the quarterfinals and round one of the 200 and 400 metres events respectively. He also competed at the 1950 British Empire Games, where his best finish was fourth in the 4×110 yards relay. He later had a lengthy career with the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs and the International Law Commission, and served as his country’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1998 to 2002. He is now the oldest living Sri Lankan Olympian!
Secondly, we want to wish American swimmer Don Sheff a happy 94rd birthday! Sheff represented the United States in the 4×200 metres freestyle relay at the 1952 Helsinki Games, which won gold. Because he only swam in the heats, however, he did not receive an actual medal due to the rules of the time. He also won several medals at the 1950 Maccabiah Games. Despite not winning a physical medal, he still competed, and thus we consider him the oldest living Olympic swimming champion!
To wrap up our series of blog posts following the death of Iris Cummings as the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics, today Oldest Olympians completing its look into Olympians who competed at the 1936 Games. We have already covered the eisstockschießen players who have no date of birth, but there are 25 other non-starters and demonstration event competitors from 1936 for whom we lack biographical information but could, in theory, still be alive, as well as 14 art competitors. There are also 32 Olympians who competed in 1936 that could still be alive, but since all but two, Egyptian swimmer Fadl Ibrahim and Afghani field hockey player Abouwi Ahmad Shah, have known dates of birth, we will cover them when we review Olympians who could have been older than Yvonne Chabot-Curtet at the time of her death.
Before we list the remaining 1936 participants, however, we wanted to point to an additional Olympic mystery from that year: Afghani field hockey player Mian Faruq Shah. Shah, who had studied in Britain and earned a pilot’s license from that country, was Assistant Director of Agriculture and Sports Minister of Afghanistan in the mid-1930s, and also vice-captain of the hockey team. Anonymous editors have added a year of death of 2005 and a date of death of May 1, 2013 to his Wikipedia page at various times, but we have been unable to confirm either date.
Of the 14 art competitors from 1936 who could, in theory, still be alive, only one, South African painter Ann Graham, born September 22, 1915, has a known date of birth.
Of the 25 non-starters and demonstration event competitors from 1936 who could still be alive, three have known years of birth. Egyptian footballer Hussein Ezzat and Japanese field hockey player Yasuo Ueno were born in 1915, while another Japanese hockey player, Satoshi Muraoka, was born in 1916.
Name
Country
Event
Emil Angelescu
Romania
Non-starter in the four-man bobsleigh
Dinu Cesiano
Romania
Non-starter in the fencing tournament
Zacarías Flores
Peru
Non-starter in the welterweight boxing tournament
Gerbrecht
Germany
Participant in the demonstration gliding event
Franz Hiermann
Austria
Participant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Josef Jauch
Switzerland
Participant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Branko Karadjole
Yugoslavia
Non-starter in coxed fours rowing
Peter von Lerch
Austria
Participant in the demonstration gliding event
José Llovera
Spain
Non-starter in the featherweight boxing tournament
Jean Morand
France
Participant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Mario Peselli
Italy
Participant in the demonstration gliding event
Teodor Popescu
Romania
Non-starter in the four-man bobsleigh
José Portillo
Spain
Non-starter in the lightweight boxing tournament
Jean Pydych
Poland
Participant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Pedro Rodríguez
Peru
Non-starter in the flyweight boxing tournament
Constantin Rosetti
Romania
Non-starter in the fencing tournament
Adam Rzepka
Poland
Participant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Aleksandar Stanojević
Yugoslavia
Participant in the demonstration gliding event
Alexandru Tăutu
Romania
Non-starter in the four-man bobsleigh
Máximo Valdez
Peru
Non-starter in the featherweight boxing tournament
Eduard Waser
Switzerland
Participant in the demonstration military ski patrol event
Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays as last year, so it is time for another blog post to cover them both in lieu of choosing between them!
First, we are wishing Günther Haase a happy 100th birthday! Haase represented his country at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where he won a bronze medal in platform diving. Two years earlier, he had won that event at the 1950 European Championships, and in total he collected eight national titles between 1943 and 1956. He later moved to the United States with his wife, also a German national champion in diving, and now resides in Florida as the oldest living German Olympic medalist.
Second, French fencer Daniel Dagallier is turning 99 today! In addition to his team bronze medal from the 1956 Summer Olympics, Dagallier won five team medals – one gold and two each of silver and bronze – in the event at the World Championships between 1951 and 1958, and also took gold at the 1955 Mediterranean Games. He is now the oldest living Olympic fencing medalist.
(Hans Schachinger)
Additionally, we wanted to provide an update on a competitor that we have covered twice before: Connor Mah was able locate records to confirm that Dutch gymnast Klara Post did die on January 12, 2022. Finally, we mentioned previously that Austrian sailor Hans Schachinger died in 1978. Further records located by Mah demonstrated that Schachinger was born June 1, 1921 and died August 11, 1970, with 1978 being the year of his burial.
Today on Oldest Olympians we have another two milestone birthdays so, as usual, we are celebrating both of them in a single post!
First, we are wishing a happy 97th birthday to Joaquim Granger, the oldest living Portuguese Olympian! Granger represented his country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was 23rd with his team in the all-around and had a best individual finish of 107th on the rings. He later worked as a physical education professor.
Second, we want to wish a happy 95th birthday to Frank Shakespeare, the oldest living Olympic champion from the United States! Shakespeare represented his country in rowing’s eights event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, which was won by the Americans. During this time, he was a student in officer training at the United States Naval Academy.
Finally, while we have a little space, we wanted to provide updates on three of our past Olympic medal mysteries. First, Willy Hufschmid, born October 9, 1918, who won a bronze medal with the Swiss handball team at the 1936 Berlin Games, died December 12, 1996. Second, we have learned that John Rungsted Sørensen, born October 5, 1934, who represented Denmark in the C-2 1000 event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and won a bronze medal, did reach his 90th birthday, but died three weeks later on October 26, 2024. Finally, Enzo Polito, born October 29, 1926, who won a bronze medal with the Italian water polo squad at the 1952 Helsinki Games, died February 27, 2004 at the age of 77.
Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to provide an update to eisstockschießen, the demonstration sport from the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics that had many competitors with missing biographical details. Thanks to new research Connor Mah, however, we can now fill in some of those gaps.
(Georg Edenhauser (left) and Friedrich Mosshammer (right))
To start off with the winner of the distance shooting event, and on a sad note, we have learned that Austrian Georg Edenhauser was born January 12, 1911 and completed suicide less than a year after his victory, on January 26, 1937. We also now know that the runner-up in that event, his compatriot Friedrich Mosshammer, was born July 15, 1895. The winner of the target shooting event that was open to all nations, Ignaz Reiterer, also of Austria, was born July 27, 1887 and died July 31, 1944.
(Wilhelm Silbermayr)
For the winning Austrians for the team event, we now know additional dates of birth: Wilhelm Silbermayr was born September 13, 1880, Anton Ritzl and his brother Otto were born October 18, 1894 and March 22, 1898 respectively, and Wilhelm Pichler was born May 19, 1897. For their compatriots from the third-placed team, we now have full biographical details for Friedrich Schieg, born February 14, 1877 and died November 20, 1970, as well as a date of birth for Hubert Lödler, October 31, 1906. For other full biographical information for Austrians, we now have August Ischepp born September 1, 1900 and died February 8, 1968; Josef Kleewein born May 24, 1890 and died June 8, 1941; and Anton Schaffernak born January 12, 1899 and died February 3, 1981. Additionally, we now have a date of birth for Isidor Waitschacher: May 9, 1895.
We also have updates from Connor Mah on some of the Czechoslovakian players. Fritz Brade was born November 10, 1890 and died June 12, 1940, while Friedrich Feistner was born August 29, 1893 and died March 10, 1941. We also have three additional competitors whose dates of birth were uncovered: Friedrich Arnhold, born December 20, 1894; Rudolf Kopal, born July 3, 1893; and Karl Wolfinger, born November 27, 1887.
Finally, as we continue to follow up from the death of Iris Cummings as the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics, we note that the majority of the 1936 competitors for whom we could not confirm as alive deceased and have no date of birth are eisstockschießen players. Since we have covered them all in previous posts, we thought we would end this entry with a quick chart of those names.
Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays as last year, so we are again continuing our trend of covering both in a single blog post rather than choosing between them!
First, we want to wish a happy 95th birthday to Miguel Seijas, the oldest living Uruguayan Olympian! Seijas represented his country in the double sculls at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Games, winning bronze in the former and being eliminated in the round one repêchage in the latter.
Second, Chiharu Igaya is turning 94 as Japan’s oldest Olympic medalist! Igaya represented his country in nine alpine skiing events across three editions of the Games – 1952, 1956, and 1960 – and won a silver medal in the slalom in 1956. He also took bronze at the World Championships in that event in 1958. By career he worked in insurance, but also served in sport administration, most notably as a member of the IOC since 1982.
Kugelstosser Willy Senn, 1950 (Photo by RDB/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
(Willy Senn)
Finally, we were able to confirm that the Rico Bianchi who died March 26, and who we mentioned in our last blog entry, was the Swiss silver medal-winning Olympian. We can also add Willy Senn to the list of Swiss updates, as Connor Mah was able to confirm him as being born May 25, 1920 and dying on October 27, 1989, as we suspected in an earlier blog post.
Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that British field hockey player Tony Nunn, born May 24, 1927, died May 7 at the age of 97. Nunn represented his country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a bronze medal. Domestically, he played for the Hawks Hockey Club.
At the time of his death, Nunn was the oldest living British Olympic medalist and Olympic medalist in field hockey. The former distinction now goes to Sheila Lerwill, born August 16, 1928, who won a silver medal for Great Britain in the high jump at the 1952 Helsinki Games. She captured that title at the 1950 European Championships 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. She was already the oldest living medalist in track and field athletics.
The latter titleholder is now Eric Pearce, born October 29, 1931. Pearce represented Australia at four consecutive editions of the Games – 1956 through 1968 – and won bronze in 1964 and silver in 1968. Three of his brothers also represented Australia in Olympic field hockey, as did his daughter Colleen in 1984.
Additionally, while we are posting, we were prepared to mention the 95th birthday of Swiss rower Rico Bianchi on May 13, as he was believed to be the oldest living Swiss Olympic medalist. He took silver in the coxed fours at the 1952 Helsinki Games and also competed in the eights in 1960. There are unconfirmed reports, however, that he may have died March 26, which we have yet to verify. If he were deceased, another rower, André Moccand, born January 25, 1931, who took silver in the coxed fours in 1948, would be the oldest living Swiss Olympic medalist.
(Jacques Simon)
Finally, to complete the list of Connor Mah’s discoveries about 1928 Olympians, we have four Olympians for whom we have additional birth information. French field hockey player Jacques Simon was born August 23, 1903 and was still alive in 1970. Swiss water polo player Robert Hürlimann was born March 26, 1905, while Swiss weightlifter Hermann Eichholzer was born June 15, 1903. As for Eichholzer’s weightlifting compatriot Ernst Trinkler, Mah was able to uncover that he was born in 1906.
Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Giuseppe Moioli, born August 8, 1927, died today, May 5, at the age of 97. Moioli won gold for Italy in rowing’s coxless fours event at the 1948 London Games, just missed the podium in fourth in 1956 Melbourne, and also competed in 1952 Helsinki. He was a five-time European champion in this event between 1947 and 1956, and also won with the eights in 1958, in addition to a coxless fours gold medal at the 1955 Mediterranean Games. He later worked as a coach.
At the time of his death, Moioli was the oldest living Italian Olympic medalist and the oldest living Olympic medalist in rowing. The former distinction now goes to Ennio Mattarelli, born August 5, 1928, who was already the oldest living Olympic sport shooting medalist. Mattarelli represented Italy in the trap event at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where he won the gold medal. He also competed in 1968, where he was 27th, and won seven medals – three of them gold – at the World Championships between 1961 and 1974. He later worked as a coach and opened a business that manufactured clay pigeon launchers.
The oldest living Olympic medalist in rowing is now Neville Howell, born December 17, 1929. Howell represented Australia in the eights at the 1956 Melbourne Games and won bronze. He was a gold medalist in that event at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and also competed in the coxed pairs at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where he was eliminated in the round one repêchage. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2020 for his lifetime of community service, and he was already the oldest living Australian Olympic medalist.
(Charles Six)
While we are blogging, we wanted to update a handful of deaths discovered by Connor Mah from the list that we provided a few entries ago about 1928 Olympians for whom we had no biographical data. French field hockey player Charles Six was actually Albert Charles Six, born December 18, 1901 and died March 11, 1987. Swiss field hockey player Charles Piot was born in 1901 and died in October 1990. Swiss water polo player Ernest Hüttenmoser was actually Ernst Hüttenmoser, born August 8, 1908 and died May 27, 1980. Swiss weightlifter Franz Riederer was born August 31, 1897 and died December 31, 1963. Finally, we have updated data on two Swiss wrestlers: Isidor Bieri was born June 5, 1905 and died July 29, 1983, while Max Studer was born September 17, 1899 and died April 30, 1957.
Today on Oldest Olympians, we want to cover three recent deaths of Olympic titleholders. The first is German ski jumper Max Bolkart, born July 29, 1932, who died April 26 at the age of 92. Bolkart represented Germany in three editions of the Olympic ski jumping tournament, 1956 through 1964, and just missed the podium in the large hill in 1956 when he finished fourth. Domestically, he was West German champion four times during that period and later worked as a coach, machine fitter, and hotel owner.
At the time of his death, Bolkart was the oldest living Olympic ski jumper, a distinction that now goes to Enzo Perin, born August 10, 1933. Perin represented Italy in the Nordic combined in the same three editions, but also took part in the ski jumping tournament in 1956 and 1960. His best finish overall was 14th in the Nordic combined in 1960.
Next, Oldest Olympians was saddened to learn of the deaths of two Olympic canoers. First, Mariya Shubina, born May 8, 1930, died April 20 at the age of 94. Shubina represented the Soviet Union in the K-2 500 at the 1960 Rome Games and won gold. Although this was her only Olympic appearance, between 1959 and 1967 she was a three-time European, four-time world, and ten-time national champion across various disciplines, and also won an additional silver medal at the Europeans and two at the Worlds. By career she was a biologist and earned her PhD in 1975.
The second was Ferenc Mohácsi, born October 25, 1929, who died April 29 at the age of 95. Mohácsi took bronze in the C-2 1000 at the 1956 Melbourne Games for Hungary. During his career, he took part in numerous sports and earned a degree in physical education. He later worked on the administrative side of sport. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic canoeing medalist, while Shubina was the oldest living Olympic canoeing champion.
These titles now combine into one individual, France’s Jean Laudet, born August 5, 1930. Laudet represented his country in the C-2 10,000 metres event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, alongside Georges Turlier (another of the oldest Olympians), and took home the gold medal. He later worked as an antiquarian.
Finally, in continuing to share the information uncovered by Connor Mah on 1928 competitors, we wanted to highlight a new discovery in skijoring. We now know that Rudolf Wettstein, who won the demonstration event in St. Moritz, was born July 7, 1888 and died April 28, 1952.
Today we wanted to cover a few recent deaths of oldest Olympian titleholders. In addition to Eugeniusz Lewacki and Reginald Douglas, about whom we have already posted, there have been two individuals who have passed their distinctions on to younger Olympians. In Douglas’ case, we failed to note that Guy McGregor, born July 11, 1930, who took part in the field hockey tournaments at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Games, is now the oldest living Olympian to have represented New Zealand.
First in this entry is Heikki Hasu, born March 21, 1926, who died on April 5, only 15 days after his 99th birthday. Hasu had outstanding results at the Winter Olympics as both a Nordic combined and a cross-country skier. In the former, he won the individual event at the 1948 St. Moritz Games and came in second in 1952. In the latter, he took gold as a member of the 4×10 kilometer relay team in 1952 and finished fourth in the individual 18 kilometer event in 1948 and 1952. He was also a 1950 World Champion in the Nordic combined and a runner-up in the cross-country relay, and was the first Finnish person (and only second non-Norwegian) to win skiing’s prestigious Holmenkollen Medal, which he did in 1952. That same year, he was also Finland’s flagbearer at the Winter Olympics. As if that were not enough, Hasu later embarked upon a successful career in politics, serving in his national parliament from 1962 through 1970.
(Irma Johansson)
At the time of his death, Hasu was the oldest living cross-country skiing medalist and the oldest living Olympic Nordic combined competitor overall. In the former category, the new titleholder is Irma Johansson, born April 3, 1932, who won bronze and gold in the 3×5 kilometers relay for Sweden in 1956 and 1960 respectively. She also competed in the 10 kilometers individual event both years. For the latter, the new oldest Olympian to have competed in Nordic combined is Helmut Böck, born February 14, 1931. Like Hasu, Böck participated in both disciplines, as he took part in cross-country skiing’s 18 kilometers event in 1952. In both 1952 and 1956, however, he competed in the Nordic combined, and was a unified Germany’s flagbearer in the former year. Finally, as pointed out by our colleague Hilary Evans, Hasu was also the longest-lived Winter Olympic champion, surpassing the record set by British alpinist John Noel on March 12, 1989, by a single day.
The second Olympian is Raghbir Lal, born November 15, 1929, who died April 7 at the age of 95. Lal represented his country at two editions of the Olympic field hockey tournament – in 1952 in Helsinki and 1956 in Melbourne – where he won gold medals both times. He also took part in tours of Malaya and New Zealand in 1954 and 1955 respectively, while domestically he captained the Punjab Police team, where he was employed as a Sub-Inspector.
(Mary D’Souza)
At the time of his death, Lal was the oldest living Indian Olympian and field hockey gold medalist. In the former category, Mary D’Souza, born July 18, 1931, who competed in the 100 and 200 metres track events at the 1952 Helsinki Games, is now the oldest. She was a three-time medalist at the Asian Games and also played field hockey for India internationally. For the latter, the new oldest living Olympic field hockey champion is Gurbux Singh, born February 11, 1935, who helped India win the 1964 Tokyo tournament and was also a bronze medalist in 1968. As a post about Lal was removed by Facebook as “spam” and was never reinstated, and this catalyzed our move away from Twitter and Facebook, we are happy to be able to share his legacy on this page and Bluesky.
Finally, Connor Mah was able to uncover biographical details for many of the 1928 Olympians who were mentioned previously as lacking dates of birth and death. As this post is long enough as it is, however, for now we wanted to mention just those who he was able to find full names for, all of whom are Swiss. Field hockey Olympians J. Loubert and R. Rodé are Jean Loubert, born November 28, 1905, and Roger Rodé, born November 23, 1905. Water polo reserves E. Ruchti and E. Tschümperly are Edouard Ruchti, born February 8, 1901 and died January 2, 1986, and Eugen Tschümperli, whose biographical details are currently unknown. Mah also identified skijoring competitors F. Mordasini and Brander as Federico Mordasini, born December 12, 1905 and died May 24, 1980, and Joseph Brander, born October 17, 1896 and died December 16, 1939.
