Today on Oldest Olympians, we have three important birthdays to celebrate and, since there is no fair way to choose between them, we have decided to feature them all in a blog post!
First of all, Miguel Seijas is turning 93 as the oldest living Olympian from Uruguay! Seijas represented his country in double sculls rowing at two editions of the Games, winning bronze in 1952 and being eliminated in the round one repêchage in 1956.
Swedish bobsledder Carl-Erik Eriksson is also turning 93 today! Eriksson represented his country in a record six Olympic tournaments from 1964 through 1984, in the two- and four-man every year except 1968, when he only competed in the two-man. His best result was in the two-man in 1972, where he finished sixth. By career, he ran companies that supplied bobsleigh equipment, but also served as a national coach and on the board of the national federation. Due to his longevity in the sport, he is the oldest living survivor of the 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 Winter Olympics. He now lives in Färentuna.
Finally, Chiharu Igaya is turning 92 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.
As a small addition, we are also only one day off of an Olympic mystery that was recently solved. Leonid Shcherbakov, born April 7, 1927, won a silver medal for the Soviet Union in the triple jump at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but he was an Olympic medal mystery for a long time, as we did not know whether or not he was still alive. It turned out, however, that he was deceased, having died May 19, 2004, at the age of 77.
Since we have been covering demonstration events recently on this blog, we decided today to look at one from the Winter Games: the military ski patrol. Military patrol is a sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting and is the ancestor to the biathlon event of the present day. It was an official sport at the 1924 Chamonix Olympics, and was a demonstration event in 1928, 1936, and 1948. As demonstration events, we often know less about these athletes than others, and we have featured some of them before in our Olympic mysteries. Today, we wanted to mention some of those who competed at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirschen Games.
(Franz Hiermann)
Nine teams of four men took part in the 1936 tournament, with Italy, Finland, and Sweden taking the three podium spots. We have full biographical data on all of those competitors, so our first mystery comes from the fourth-placed Austrian team, as we are missing information on Franz Hiermann, aside from the fact that he was a national champion in this sport in 1934. Similarly, the sixth-placed French team has one member, Jean Morand, who we have been unable to identify.
Switzerland and Poland, meanwhile, who were ranked seventh and ninth respectively, each have two competitors for whom we have no information. In Switzerland’s case, they are Josef Jauch and Eduard Waser, while for Poland their names are Adam Rzepka and Jean Pydych.
Finally, since we are mentioning a French Olympic mystery, we thought that we would share some of the cases that we mentioned previously that have now been solved. Field hockey player Pierre de Lévaque was actually Patrice Delévaque, who was born September 10, 1892, while his 1928 teammate Maurice Lanet was actually Maxime Lanet, born November 12, 1898 and died December 4, 1947. Similarly, from 1928, wrestler Henri Deniel turned out to be Hervé Deniel, born February 14, 1899 and died December 11, 1951, while Jean Pierre Rouanet was Jean Paul Rouanet, born March 28, 1894 and died July 21, 1979. Finally, Connor Mah was able to find biographical data for two more 1928 Olympic mysteries: rower Léon le Cornu was born October 15, 1905 and died November 5, 1977, while boxer Robert Galataud was born May 19, 1907 and died November 7, 1978.
Recently on the Oldest Olympians blog, we noted an Italian competitor by the name of “Beselli” who took part in the gliding demonstration event at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and about whom we knew nothing. Diego Rossetti was able to discover that this competitor’s name was actually Mario Peselli, although he has yet to uncover full biographical data. Thus, since we have mentioned this topic, we wanted to go into a little more depth about what this demonstration event was.
(Depiction of Ignaz Stiefsohn)
As a competitive sport, gliding is the use of unpowered aircraft to fly long distances via air currents. The event at the 1936 Games was not ranked, but 20 competitors from 7 countries took part in demonstrations, although one, Austrian Ignaz Stiefsohn, died in a crash while preparing for the event. Of the other 18 competitors, we have biographical data for 15 of them.
(Peter von Lerch)
For the remaining three, we have full names for two of them, and even a picture of one: Austrian Peter von Lerch. Von Lerch remained active in the sport until at least World War II, although we do not have any additional information beyond this point. Another, Aleksandar Stanojević, who represented Yugoslavia, has a common enough name that we were not able to find any specific biographical details for the glider. For the final competitor, Gerbrecht of Germany, we have only a surname.
Finally, on the topic of “almost Olympians”, in a previous blog entry we mentioned French boxer G. Guillotin, a reserve in the light-heavyweight division at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, about whom we knew nothing. Thanks to research by Connor Mah, we now know that he was Georges Guillotin, born December 20, 1906 and died November 9, 1983.
Recently, we have noted the deaths of two Olympians, Herb Douglas and Siiri Rantanen, who held multiple distinctions among the oldest Olympians. Douglas was the oldest living Olympic track and field athletics and American medalist, while Rantanen was the oldest living Olympian to have competed at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo and 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics, the oldest living Olympic cross-country skiing medalist, and the oldest living Finnish Olympian. Given that all of these titles have now changed hands, we wanted to provide a brief update of who holds them now.
(Marianne Werner)
The oldest living Olympic track and field medalist is now German Marianne Werner, born January 4, 1924, who recently turned 99. Werner won silver and bronze in the shot put in 1952 and 1956 respectively, and also competed in the discus throw both years. The oldest living American Olympic medalist is now Gordy Giovanelli, born April 11, 1925, who was already the oldest living American Olympic champion. He took gold in rowing’s coxed fours event at the 1948 London Games.
(Yury Sergeyev)
The oldest living Finnish Olympian, meanwhile, is now Freddy Ehrström, born August 29, 1925, who represented his country in Star class sailing at the 1960 Rome Games. The oldest living Olympic cross-country skiing medalist is now Heikki Hasu, born March 21, 1926, who was already the oldest living cross-country skiing champion, as he took gold in the 4×10 kilometers relay at the 1952 Oslo Games. The new oldest living survivors of the 1956 and 1960 Winter Olympics are Yury Sergeyev of the Soviet Union and Andreas Däscher of Switzerland respectively. Sergeyev, born July 16, 1925, came in fourth in the 500 metres speed skating event, while Däscher was a four-time Olympian in ski jumping.
While we are on the topic of the Winter Olympics, we wanted to provide an update that the Engelbert Zunterer born February 22, 1923 and died June 27, 2011, who we covered in an earlier blog post, was the same individual who represented EC Mittenwald Ferchensee in the ice stock sport tournament at the 1964 Innsbruck Games. Finally, as an update to our most recent blog post, we learned from a reader that Dutch sailor Gerard Lautenschutz, born November 27, 1928, died October 11, 2022 at the age of 93.
Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to look at a handful of Dutch Olympians who we have listed as “possibly living”. Specifically, we wanted to look at some data from the Amsterdam Archives that suggests that a handful of these Olympians may still be alive, although we have not found any corroborating proof. All of these Olympians have their records redacted in the archives, which indicates, but does not prove, that they are still alive.
Wim Pool – Member of the Dutch canoeing delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
Wim Pool, born March 20, 1927, represented the Netherlands in the K-2 1000 event at the 1948 London Games, where he and Cees Gravesteijn placed sixth. Just as with Gravesteijn, whom we covered in our post about Olympians that we last heard from in 2012, we know nothing else about Pool.
Gerard Lautenschutz – Member of the Dutch sailing delegation to the 1960 Rome Olympics
Gerard Lautenschutz, born November 27, 1928, represented the Netherlands in the Flying Dutchman class sailing tournament at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed fifth. Lautenschutz only took part in the first five races, after which he had to return home due a family emergency. By career, he ran a shipyard.
(Tootje Selbach)
Tootje Selbach and Nanny Simon – Members of the Dutch gymnastics delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Tootje Selbach, born March 14, 1928, and Nanny Simon, born June 23, 1931, represented the Netherlands in the gymnastics tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where they were 14th in the team all-around and sixth in the team portable apparatus. Selbach’s best individual finish was joint-56th in the balance beam, while for Simon it was joint-82nd in the same event. Selbach’s younger sister Toetie, born April 11, 1934, was also on the team and was still alive in 2021, but we are not certain about Tootje. We previously mistook Simon, meanwhile, as an individual who lived in Florida, but this turned out not be the case, and thus we remain uncertain about her as well.
On the topic of gymnastics from the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, we have some good news to update: Austrian gymnast Gerti Fesl, born September 29, 1931, whom we had last heard from in 2012, was confirmed to still be alive in 2023! That is what we have for today, but we hope that you will join us next week for a different topic!
Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to look at Italy’s participation at the 1928 St. Moritz Olympics. Specifically, there are only four competitors for whom we lack biographical data, all of whom competed in the four/five bobsleigh team that placed 21st overall. Of the five Italians, we have full data for only one: Giuseppe Crivelli.
(The 1928 St. Mortiz bobsleigh track)
For the remaining four, we have very little information to go on. For example, Giancarlo Morpurgo’s surname is often misspelled “Morpugo” and he is sometimes referred to as a Baron, but there is nothing else we can find to indicate his true identity. Names might be an issue overall, as Carlo Sem, from Turin, might be a pseudonym. About the other two, Luigi Cerutti and Piero Marchetti, we know nothing at all.
Since this is such a short blog entry, we wanted to introduce a few additional Italian Olympic mysteries. Two of them are art competitors from the 1936 Berlin Games: Piero Fervelli and Guglielmo Giuliani. Fervelli was a painter who entered an unknown painting event with the work “Sciatore 117” (Skier 117). Domestically, he was better known as a mosaic artist, but we do not have any additional biographical information on him. About Giuliani, who entered the architecture competition with “Cabina per cronometristi” (Cabin for timekeepers), we know nothing at all. A third mysterious competitor was an individual that we know only as “Beselli”, who took part in the gliding demonstration event at the same Games.
Finally, as an update to the 1928 St. Moritz bobsleigh competition, we previously noted Horacio Iglesias of Argentina as one of the mysterious competitors. Thanks to Hernán Macchiavello, we have learned that he was Horacio Alfredo Iglesias Baseil, born January 1, 1903 in Buenos Aires, although we do not have a date of death. That is what we have for today, but we hope that you will join us for a new topic next week!
Today on Oldest Olympians, we had planned to feature Gabriel Reymond, the oldest survivor of the 1960 Rome Olympics, on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Reymond competed in two editions of the Olympic Games, finishing ninth in the 10 kilometer walk in 1952 and being disqualified in the 20 kilometer walk in 1960. He also competed at those events at the 1954 and 1958 European Championships respectively, finishing sixth and eighth.
Unfortunately, we just learned that Reymond died on October 20, 2021 at the age of 98. Normally we would not feature someone who died this long ago but, given the circumstances, we felt it appropriate to provide an update. This news means that Renyldo Ferreira, born June 29, 1923, who represented Brazil in four editions of the Olympic equestrian tournament from 1948 through 1960, is the oldest survivor of the Rome Games.
(Julienne Boudewijns)
While we are writing a blog, we also wanted to provide a few updates to previous Olympic mysteries. First, we learned that the Franz Wenninger who died August 1, 1996 was the water polo player who represented Austria at the 1936 Berlin Games. Similarly, thanks to Connor Mah, we have confirmed that the Hugo Philipp who died in November 1970 was the Austrian Olympic fencer who competed in 1924, and the Walter Niederle who died November 28, 1962 was the 1948 Austrian field hockey player. Conversely, the Julienne Boudewijns who died on March 12, 2014 was not the Olympian – the Julienne Boudewijns who represented Belgium in the gymnastics tournament in 1948 actually died February 27, 1995.
Finally, in more positive news, Ralf Regnitter was able to German rower Klaus von Fersen, born March 29, 1931, was still alive, thus providing an update from 2012. We have a few more updates, but will stop here for now as to not overwhelm. We hope you will join us for the next blog entry!
A few days ago we compiled a list of Olympians who may still be alive and were born between the recently deceased Félix Sienra, the longest-lived Olympian, and the current oldest living Olympian, Yvonne Chabot-Curtet. We now want to add to that list by noting the 20 non-starters and demonstration event competitors that fall into the same category. We do this not only for the sake of completing our previous post but because, as shown by the example of Dutch 1932 athletics alternate Mien Schopman-Klaver, who died at the age of 107, these competitors provide us with important links to Games that are disappearing from living memory and their achievements and sporting legacies are worth celebrating even if they did not actually get to compete at the Olympics.
As with our previous post, we suspect that all of these individuals are in fact deceased, but we cannot confirm it to be the case.
Bruno Schneider, who did not start for Austria in the 800 and 1500 metres track events.
[table]
Name,Birthday,Notes
Cha Sun-Jong,1916,Alternate on the 1948 Korean football squad
Antonio Fabriani,October 30 1916,Did not start for Italy in boxing’s featherweight division in 1936
Miron Fux,August 16 1916,Alternate on the 1936 Yugoslavian water polo team
Nicolae Gurau,1916,Alternate on the 1952 Romanian athletics team
Kaj Isaksen,September 3 1916, Alternate on the 1936 Danish coxless fours rowing squad
Minoru Kino,c. 1916,Participant in the 1964 kendo demonstration event
Blake H. M. Tedman,September 29 1916,Representative for Canada in the 1952 non-Olympic art competitions
Stella Espino,August 3 1917,Did not start for Panama in the 1960 individual foil fencing tournament
Ejnar Frydensberg Hansen,April 30 1917,Alternate on the 1936 Danish coxless fours rowing squad
Joseph Meyer,February 7 1917,Alternate with the Danish 1936 cycling team
Einar Nilsen,1917,Did not start for Denmark in the 1936 cycling road race
Kotaro Oshima,c. 1917,Participant in the 1964 kendo demonstration event
Sosaku Yamashita,c. 1917,Participant in the 1964 kendo demonstration event
Karel Basta,November 20 1918,Did not start for Czechoslovakia in boxing’s flyweight division in 1936
Johannes Duyn,March 19 1918,Alternate with the Danish 1936 cycling team
Guilherme Rodrigues,August 26 1918,Alternate on the 1948 Brazilian basketball team
Adalbert Balint,September 20 1919,Alternate on the 1960 Romanian water polo team
Bruno Schneider,October 26 1919,Alternate on the 1948 Austrian athletics team
Kurakichi Chatani,January 11 1920,Alternate on the 1960 Japanese foil fencing team
Hideo Ichikawa,February 23 1920,Alternate on the 1960 Japanese field hockey team
[/table]
Now that we have finally caught up on this topic, we will be bringing you something new and different in the coming days. We hope that you will join us!
Today on Oldest Olympians, we are following up on an earlier post by looking into those Olympians who may still be alive and were born between the recently deceased Félix Sienra, the longest-lived Olympian, and the current oldest living Olympian, Yvonne Chabot-Curtet. As a reminder, noting these individuals does not represent any belief on the part of Oldest Olympians that these athletes are still alive; we simply cannot confirm that they are deceased. It remains, however, an important caveat and is always a possibility: language barriers, poor media coverage of older athletes, and desire for privacy from a generation when the Games were not as big as they are now all contribute to the chance that someone may have eluded our radar. In the past, several Olympic centenarians have reached that milestone with little public fanfare, sometimes not being revealed until their death and sometimes being older than Chabot-Curtet’s current age. We feel, therefore, that it is important to share this list to make our research methods a little more public and subject to scrutiny, perhaps solving a case or two along the way.
Hernando Navarrete represented Colombia in the 5000 metres track event at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Yukio Inokuma represented Japan in four rifle shooting events across three editions of the Games: 1952, 1956, and 1960.
1920
[table]
Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday
Minna Blüml,Germany,Luge,May 17 1920
Sayed Bulbul,Egypt,Football,March 23 1920
Yukio Inokuma,Japan,Sport shooting,Janaury 2 1920
Muhammad Khurram,Pakistan,Field hockey,March 1920
Manuel Solís,Mexico,Cycling,May 10 1920
John Stuart,Canada,Weightlifting,January 24 1920
[/table]
Next time on Oldest Olympians, we will take a look at the non-starters and demonstration event competitors that meet the criteria for this list. We hope that you will join us!
Today on Oldest Olympians we again want to highlight one of the centenarians on our list: American modern pentathlete Guy Troy, born March 15, 1923. Troy represented the United States at the 1952 Helsinki Games, finishing 14th out of 51 entrants individually and placing fourth with the American team, whom he also coached. Troy and the American team had had much better luck the previous year, when they took home the gold medal in the inaugural modern pentathlon tournament at the 1951 Pan American Games. By career he was a West Point graduate who served in the military, but for many years he also worked as an international event judge in modern pentathlon.
Guy Troy USMA 1946 Howitzer Photo p. 379
(Guy Troy)
Unfortunately, we learned that Troy died two days after his 100th birthday, on March 17, at the age of 100. This makes Hungary’s Gábor Benedek, born March 23, 1927 the oldest living Olympic modern pentathlete; he was already the oldest living medalist in the sport.
(Gábor Benedek)
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. He is now the last surviving member of his gold medal-winning team.
(Daniel Dagallier)
We also have an additional update on a modern pentathlete featured previously as an Olympic mystery. Lieutenant Pierre Coche represented France in this sport at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, where he placed 29th, but we otherwise knew nothing about him. As researcher Taavi Kalju discovered, this is because the Olympian was actually Paul Coche, born January 26, 1904 and died November 24, 1996. On the other hand, we learned that French Olympic medal mystery Daniel Dagallier, born June 11, 1926, who won a bronze medal in team épée fencing in 1956 and also competed in 1952, was alive as recently as 2018.
