(Guy McGregor)

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 99^th 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.

For the third blog post in a row, we have the same two milestone birthdays as last year, so the third time is the charm in covering them both!

The first is Emam Ali Habibi, the oldest living Iranian and wrestling Olympic champion, who is turning 94 today! Habibi represented his country in the lightweight, freestyle wrestling division at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he won a surprise gold medal. He then switched to welterweight, winning titles at the 1958 Asian Games and the World Championships from 1959 through 1962, with his only major loss coming at the 1960 Rome Olympics, where he was eliminated in round five. He was later a member of Iran’s parliament and had a brief career in film.

The second is Ben Campbell, the oldest living Olympic judoka, who turns 92 today! Campbell represented the United States in the open class event at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where he placed sixth. He had been a gold medalist in that category at the 1963 Pan American Games and was a three-time national champion. He later turned to politics and served in the United States Senate from 1993 through 2005.

(Garry Hoyt, pictured at The Inquirer and Mirror)

Finally, in our previous blog entry we noted that Garry Hoyt was celebrating his 94^th birthday on April 7 as the oldest living Olympian to have represented Puerto Rico. We have since learned, however, that he died on March 31, shortly before that birthday. This leaves Héctor Román, born January 7, 1933, who placed 20^th in the decathlon at the 1952 Helsinki Games, as the only Olympian over the age of 90 that we know of to have represented Puerto Rico.

For the second blog post in a row, we have the same two milestone birthdays as last year, so we are again covering them both!

The first is Bakir Ben Aissa, the oldest living Moroccan Olympian, who is turning 94 today! Ben Aissa represented his country at two editions of the Olympic marathon, placing eighth and twelfth in 1960 and 1964 respectively. He won that event at the 1959 and 1963 Mediterranean Games and took gold in the 10,000 metres and silver in the 5,000 metres at the 1957 Pan-Arab Games. Originally a representative of France, he joined the Moroccan national team a few years after independence and did not retire from active competition until 1968.

(Garry Hoyt, pictured at The Inquirer and Mirror)

The second is Garry Hoyt, the oldest living Olympian to have represented Puerto Rico, who is also turning 94 today! Hoyt represented his country in three editions of the Olympic sailing tournament, beginning in 1968 when he was 10^th in the Finn class. He then teamed up with Hovey Freeman to take part in the Tempest class in 1972 and 1976, placing 16^th and 15^th respectively. He had better luck in the Snipe class at the 1966 Central American and Caribbean Games, where he won the gold medal. By career, he was an advertising executive, businessman, and author on the topic of sailing.

Finally, to add another small update to this post as we did last time, Ralph Schlueter was able to confirm that the 1932 Belgian art competitor Fritz De Boever was indeed Fritz Camillus De Boever, born January 11, 1909, as we speculated in an earlier blog post. He also discovered that this Olympian died March 9, 1987, at the age of 78.

Today on Oldest Olympians we have the same two milestone birthdays as last year, so we have decided to cover both in a single blog post again!

The first is Birte Christoffersen-Hanson, who is turning 101 today! Christoffersen-Hanson represented Denmark in diving as Brite Christoffersen until 1953, including at the 1948 London Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the platform event. She also took two bronze medals at the 1950 European Championships. From 1954 until her retirement in the 1960s, she represented Sweden as Birte Hanson, appearing twice more at the Olympics (1956 and 1960) and capturing one bronze (1958) and two silver medals (1954) at the European Championships. By career, she worked as a physical education instructor and now resides in Limhamn, Malmö as the oldest living Danish and Swedish Olympian, diving Olympian, and survivor of the 1960 Rome Games!

(Stoyanka Angelova, pictured at Canal Catorce)

Next is gymnast Stoyanka Angelova, who is turning 97 and is the oldest living Bulgarian Olympian! Angelova represented her country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she had a best individual finish of 34th in the balance beam. After coaching the Bulgarian national team, she emigrated to Mexico in 1971, where she spent a half century involved with Mexican Olympian Committee.

Finally, while we are posting a blog entry, we wanted to thank Hernán Macchiavello, who provided us with additional biographical information on Jorge Pessoa, a reserve with the 1932 Brazilian water polo delegation. We now know that Pessoa was born September 6, 1906 and died May 3, 1979 at the age of 72.

Today Oldest Olympians has three milestone birthdays to celebrate so, as you might imagine, we have decided to feature all of them in a single blog post rather than choose just one!

First is Fernand Bothy, the oldest living Belgian Olympian and Olympic boxer, who is turning 99! Bothy represented his country in the heavyweight division at the 1948 London Games, where he was defeated in round two. He then embarked upon a brief professional career in 1949, earning a 4-2-0 record, and now resides in Farciennes.

Next is Gábor Benedek, the oldest living Hungarian Olympian and Olympic medalist in modern pentathlon, who is turning 98! 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.

Finally, American Hayes Jenkins, the oldest living Olympic figure skating champion, is turning 92! Jenkins placed just off the podium in fourth at the 1952 Oslo Games, but made up for it in 1956 by winning the event. From 1953 through 1956, he was also the American and World Champion, but he retired after that and worked as a lawyer.

Continuing from the previous blog post, following the death of Iris Cummings as the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics, today Oldest Olympians is looking at Olympians who competed at the 1932 Games. There are actually fewer Olympians than from 1928 who we could not find confirmation of their being deceased, although two of them have a known date of birth and could still possibly be alive. With that said, as all competitors would have had to be teenagers or younger during the Games, it is unlikely that any remain alive.

First, Hatsuko Morioka, born June 22, 1915, represented Japan in four swimming events across two editions of the Games – 1932 and 1936 – with a best finish of fifth with her nation in the 4×100 metres freestyle relay. She was a four-time national champion in the 400 metres freestyle, but she retired from active competition at the onset of World War II. While some sources claim that she was alive at the age of 100, we have seen no evidence that confirms this.

Second, Misao Yokota, born February 3, 1917, represented Japan in the same relay, as well as in the 100 metres backstroke, in 1932. She was a two-time champion in the latter event, 1932-1933, and made some professional appearances prior to World War II. She was still alive in 2001, but we have no evidence of what happened to her after that. Finally, below are the 23 competitors from 1932 for whom we lack even a year of birth, but also evidence of their death.

(Hwang Eul-Su, Korean boxer)

Name	Notes
Toru Arai	Art competitor from Japan in Painting
Vicente Araujo	Reserve for Brazil’s 4×400 metres relay team
Abelardo Cuevas	Art competitor from Japan in Music
Daemers	Art competitor from Belgium in Sculpturing
Valère De Moer	Art competitor from Belgium in Sculpturing
Deryck	Art competitor from Belgium in Architecture
D. Dumortier	Art competitor from Belgium in Painting
Hélène Gérard	Art competitor from Belgium in Painting
Hwang Eul-Su	Korean lightweight boxer
Franz Janisch	Reserve with the Austrian weightlifting delegation
Eiichi Kawasaki	Art competitor from Japan in Sculpturing
Jay Maddox	Art competitor from the United States in Painting
Jeronimo Maria	Non-starter for Brazil in the 5,000 metres event
Kiyoshi Murai	Reserve with Japan’s water polo squad
Rogelio Pazquez	Art competitor from Cuba in Music
Rafael Pérez	Non-starter for Cuba in the high and long jumps
Jorge Pessoa	Reserve with Brazil’s water polo squad
Marcel Prévost	Art competitor from Belgium in Painting
Tomotari Sakurai	Art competitor from Japan in Painting
Elise Swanson	Art competitor from the United States in Music
Isamu Toyofuji	Art competitor from Japan in Painting
Domingos Trevisan	Non-starter for Brazil in the javelin throw
Anna Van Nuffel	Art competitor from Belgium in Sculpturing

Our final post in this series will look into the 1936 Games, and once again we hope that you will join us!

Today Oldest Olympians is returning to Iris Cummings, born December 21, 1920, who died January 24 as the last survivor of the 1936 Berlin Games, making her the last known survivor of any pre-World War II Olympics. Over the years, we have mentioned many Olympians from the 1928, 1932, and 1936 Games whom we could not confirm as deceased, but with no reports of survivors following Cummings’ death, we suspect that she was truly the last.

Of the 214 individuals without a known date of birth that competed in those editions, but we could not prove as either living or deceased, 58 were from 1928. Since any survivors would have had to be pre-teens to still be alive, it is probably safe to assume that they are all deceased. Thus we wanted to use this post to present those names that we were unable to learn more about.

Name	Notes
Michel Baur	Member of the France 1 four/five man bobsleigh
G. H. Bellut	Reserve for France in the modern pentathlon
A. Bié	Reserve with the French field hockey team
Isidor Bieri	Featherweight Greco-Roman wrestler for Switzerland
Brander	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland
J. Brun	Reserve with the Swiss field hockey team
Peter Conrad	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland
Hermann Eichholzer	Middleweight weightlifter for Switzerland
F. Fischer	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
Joseph Fischler	Member of the Swiss team pursuit, 4,000 metres squad
Robert Frédéric	Lightweight reserve with the French boxing delegation
Otto Frei	Middleweight Greco-Roman wrestler for Switzerland
Simon Frey	Swiss art competitor
Wilhelm Gasser	Heavyweight weightlifter for Switzerland
Robert Frédéric	Middleweight reserve with the French boxing delegation
Louis Giobergia	Member of Monaco’s coxed fours rowing squad
M. L. Guirard	Reserve with the French field hockey team
Hubert Guyard	Member of the French tandem sprint, 2,000 metres squad
Ion Haidu	Romanian decathlete
Anton Huber	Member of Germany’s 6 metres-class sailing crew
Auguste Hummel	Flyweight reserve with the French boxing delegation
Robert Hürlimann	Member of the Swiss water polo team
Ernest Hüttenmoser	Member of the Swiss water polo team
Kinichiro Ishii	Japanese single sculls rower
Fred Jenny	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
H. J. Ken	Austrian art competitor
Adalbert Koch	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
Fritz Kuhn	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland
Fritz Lincke	Reserve with the German field hockey team
J. Loubert	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
Maurice Magnin	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
F. Mordasini	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland
Saul Moyal	Egyptian foil and épée fencer
P. Neymann	Reserve with the German cycling delegation
Roland Olivier	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
G. Périer	Member of France’s military ski patrol team
Charles Piot	Member of the Swiss field hockey team
Karl Max Reinhardt	Member of the Germany 1 four/five man bobsleigh
Jean Rémusat	Reserve with the French field hockey team
Franz Riederer	Heavyweight weightlifter for Switzerland
Jacques Rivière	Member of the French field hockey team
Otto Rothman	Romanian javelin thrower
E. Ruchti	Reserve with the Swiss water polo team
Tiberiu Rusu	Romanian high jumper
Hachiro Sato	Member of Japan’s coxed fours rowing squad
Eugène Schmitt	Member of France’s gymnastics delegation
Fred Short	South African road race cyclist
Olver Silva	Bantamweight reserve with the Argentine boxing delegation
Jacques Simon	Member of the French field hockey team
Charles Six	Member of the French field hockey team
Tsukasa Sonobe	Member of Japan’s coxed fours rowing squad
Max Studer	Light-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler for Switzerland
Max Thommen	Reserve with the Swiss equestrian delegation
Ernst Trinkler	Middleweight weightlifter for Switzerland
E. Tschümperly	Reserve with the Swiss water polo team
Makoto Tsushida	Member of Japan’s coxed fours rowing squad
Hermann Volz	Heavyweight weightlifter for Germany
Rudolf Wettstein	Ski Joring competitor for Switzerland

Our next post in this series will look into the 1932 and 1936 Games, so we hope that you will join us!

Oldest Olympians was saddened to learn that, during our break, the oldest Olympian, Yvonne Chabot-Curtet, born May 28, 1920, died February 21 at the age of 104. Chabot-Curtet represented her country in the long jump at two editions of the Games, 1948 and 1952, placing 8th and 23rd respectively, and setting an Olympic record in the qualifying round of the former edition. She also came in fourth at the 1950 European Championships in that event and captured five national titles: the long jump and the pentathlon in 1946 and 1949 and an additional long jump title in 1945. Her daughter, Jacqueline, was also a successful long jumper on the national scene, although she did not appear at the Olympics.

(Rhoda Wurtele, pictured in a clip from My Canadian Moment)

The new oldest living Olympian is Canadian alpine skier Rhoda Wurtele-Eaves, born January 21, 1922, who recently turned 103. Both her and her twin sister Rhona, who died in 2020 at the age of 97, reached the top of the national skiing scene, with Rhona competing in the Olympics in 1948 and Rhoda in 1952. In 1948, the already injured Rhona broke her leg near the end of the course and placed last among the finishers, while Rhoda did not compete at all due to an ankle injury. Rhona, meanwhile, did not participate in 1952, while Rhoda had her best finish of ninth in the giant slalom. Both later had careers as ski instructors and were inaugurated into multiple Halls of Fame for their pioneering efforts in the field of Canadian women’s skiing.

Chabot-Curtet held several other distinctions as the oldest living Olympian, including the oldest living French Olympian, the oldest living track and field athlete, and the oldest survivor of the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics. The oldest French Olympian and survivor from the 1948 London Games is now cyclist Charles Coste, born February 8, 1924. Coste’s brief amateur career after World War II was quite successful, beginning with his national title in the individual pursuit in 1947. In 1948 he joined Serge Blusson, Fernand Decanali, and Pierre Adam in winning a gold medal in the team pursuit, 4,000 metres event at that year’s London Olympics, and followed that up with an individual pursuit bronze at the World Championships later that year. He then raced as a professional for a decade, notching up several major victories and competing in many more of Europe’s biggest tours. He is also the oldest living Olympic cyclist and the oldest living Olympic champion!

The oldest survivor of the 1952 Helsinki Games, meanwhile, is Gertrude Gries, born October 16, 1924, who we recently added to our tables after it was confirmed that she was still alive at the age of 100! Gries represented her country at two editions of the Summer Olympics, beginning in 1948 when she was sixth with the national team in the all-around. In 1952, the Austrians were tenth in the all-around and ninth in the portable apparatus, while individually her best finish was joint-56^th in the uneven bars.

Finally, the oldest living track and field athlete is now Yoshio Iimuro, born January 18, 1925, who recently turned 100! Iimuro represented his country in the triple jump at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where he finished sixth. He had better luck at the Asian Games, where he won that event in 1951 and came in second in 1954. He later had a long career in education, served in several roles as a sports administrator, and authored a book on his experiences. He is also the oldest living Japanese Olympian.

As always, when the oldest Olympian dies, there are many other issues to write about, and we still have to catch up on new developments following the death of the last survivor of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Iris Cummings. We therefore have many blog posts planned for the future and hope that you will join us!

Oldest Olympians will again be travelling with limited internet connectivity for the next week so, rather than miss an update, we have decided to post a blog entry today that will cover one Olympian for every day that we suspect we will be absent (February 22–March 1).

Tomorrow, Egyptian rower Wagih El-Attar, born February 22, 1928, will turn 97! El-Attar represented his country in the coxed fours rowing event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where Egypt was eliminated in the round one repêchage. He had better luck at the 1955 Mediterranean Games, where he captured bronze in the coxed pairs. He now lives in Orange Country, California as the oldest living Egyptian Olympian.

Then, (West) German equestrian Harry Boldt, born February 23, 1930, will turn 95! Boldt competed in two editions of the Olympic dressage competition, representing unified Germany in 1964 in Tokyo and West Germany in 1976 in Montreal. Both times, he earned gold in the team competition and silver individually. At the World Championships, he earned silver individually in 1966 and gold with the team in 1966 and 1978, as well as team silver in 1970. He collected an additional 11 medals, five of them gold, at the European Championships between 1963 and 1979, and retired in 1980. He then served as a coach until his 1996 retirement and is now the oldest living German Olympic champion.

(Gurbux Singh, pictured at The Telegraph)

As there are no more milestone birthdays during this period, we wanted to take some time to highlight some of the oldest Olympians that we have not yet featured. Our first, Indian hockey player Gurbux Singh, just turned 90 on February 11. He represented his country in two editions of the Olympic tournament, 1964 and 1968, winning gold in Tokyo and bronze in Mexico City. He was also Asian Games champion in 1966 and coached the Indian team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

In a previous post, we mentioned that we had discovered a new centenarian Olympian, Austrian gymnast Gertrude Gries, born October 16, 1924. Gries represented her country at two editions of the Summer Olympics, beginning in 1948 when she was sixth with the national team in the all-around. In 1952, the Austrians were tenth in the all-around and ninth in the portable apparatus, while individually her best finish was joint-56^th in the uneven bars. We do not know much else about her, but her family did confirm that she reached the age of 100.

(Frank O’Grady, pictured at the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame)

Next, we have ice hockey player Frank O’Grady, born July 25, 1930, who was selected to represent the United States at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics but did not play due to injury. He was also chosen to play at the 1957 World Championships, but the United States ended up boycotting the event. He had better luck at the collegiate level with Boston College, and he was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1995.

Then we have Jarmila Helešicová, born in 1930, who was selected to represent Czechoslovakia in the 200 metres breaststroke at the 1956 Melbourne Games, but was unable to compete. She did, however, take part in the 1954 European Championships and later worked as a coach after retiring in 1960. She was still alive recently, although we have been unable to locate an exact date of birth.

We would be remiss not to mention that the most decorated female Olympian of all time, Larisa Latynina, born December 27, 1934, turned 90 at the end of last year. Latynina represented the Soviet Union in three editions of the Olympic gymnastics tournament, 1956-1964, winning 18 medals across 19 events, missing only the balance beam in 1956. Nine of those medals were gold. She also won 14 medals each at the World and Europeans Championships.

Finally, to wrap up 2024, we have a living Olympian born in 1934 without a precise a date of birth: Indian track athlete Sri Chand Ram. Ram represented his country in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1956 Melbourne Games, but he was eliminated in round one. He trained while serving in the army and later became a coach.

The tables will not be updated during our absence, but we look forward to returning on March 2 to continue cover the Oldest Olympians! We hope that you will join us!

Today Oldest Olympians is celebrating two birthdays that are milestones for different reasons! The first is French gymnast Colette Fanara who is turning 100! Fanara represented her country in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she had a best individual finish of 85th in the uneven bars. By career she was a physical education teacher and gymnastics instructor. Her grandson Thomas Fanara was a three-time Olympian in alpine skiing and Colette now resides in Nice.

(Carlos Caballero, pictured at El Heraldo)

Next, we are wishing a happy 98th birthday to Carlos Caballero, the oldest living Olympic weightlifter! Cabaellero represented Colombia in the middleweight division at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Games, but did not win a medal. He was also selected for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but did not make the trip after budget cuts. Following his 1970 retirement, he turned to coaching.