Today on this blog, we wanted to provide some updates on new titleholders among the oldest Olympians. Recently, two Olympians have died, which has led to three titles changing hands, and we wanted to ensure that we have acknowledged all of them.

First, Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Iranian weightlifter Hassan Rahnavardi, born May 10, 1927, died September 4 at the age of 96. Rahnavardi represented his country at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Games, but just missed the podium in fourth both times. He was more successful at the Asian Games, winning gold medals in 1951 and 1958, and silver at the World Championships in 1957 and three bronze medals between 1949 and 1955. By career, he earned a doctorate of public health from Tulane University and later worked as a politician, before being forced to flee the country following the Iranian Revolution, eventually settling in the United States.

At the time of Rahnavardi’s death, he was the oldest living Iranian Olympian. This distinction now goes to a wrestler, Mahmoud Mollaghasemi, born April 5, 1929, who was already the oldest living Iranian Olympic medalist. Mollaghasemi represented his country in the flyweight, freestyle wrestling competition at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a bronze medal. He also earned a silver medal in that event at the 1951 World Championships. He later turned to coaching and was a judge at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Next, Argentine sailor Guillermo Julio Calegari, born September 13, 1924, died July 21 at the age of 98. Calegari represented his country in sailing’s Star class event at the 1972 Munich Games, where he placed 18th and last. He later became world champion in that event at the master’s level in 2005 and his son, Guillermo Jr., represented Argentina in that category at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. By career, he took part in the family real estate business. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Argentinian Olympian and oldest survivor of the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The oldest living Argentinian Olympian is now basketball player Ricardo González, born May 12, 1925. González represented Argentina at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic basketball tournaments, finishing 15th and 4th respectively. He had more luck at other international events, winning gold at the 1950 World Championships and silver at the 1951 and 1955 Pan American Games. In 1980 he was named one of the five best basketball players in Argentina’s history and in 2009 he became a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Finally, the oldest survivor of the 1972 Munich Games is now British equestrian Domini Lawrence, born May 8, 1925. Lawrence represented Great Britain in two Olympic dressage tournaments: in 1968 she was fifth with the team and 11th individually, while in 1972 she was 10th with the team and 33rd individually. She later became a distinguished judge with the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, serving until her retirement in 1998.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to continue wrapping up our coverage of eisstockschießen, or “ice stock sport” at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics. We have covered this tournament haphazardly, but we wanted be a little more organized and touch upon the remaining mystery competitors that we have not yet mentioned. Today, we are going to take a quick look at those who were ranked highly in the tournament, but we have not yet covered.

In particular, we have missed mentioning a few of the members of the team from Miesbach that placed second in the team event that was open to international clubs. For one of them, Alois Dirnberger, we know of an individual of this name who was born June 15, 1891 in Bavaria and died October 19, 1981 in Indio, California, but we cannot confirm that he was the competitor. About the other two, Johann Elbach and Josef Lenz, we know nothing.

Just missing the podium in fourth in that event was the team from Straubing. Of those individuals, we have not mentioned Franz Xaver Bachl or Albert Karl, but that is largely because we have been unable to uncover nothing about them. The same goes for two of the members of the fifth-placed team from Zwiesel: Hermann Fuchs and Wolfgang Röck. In the latter case, however, it is possible that he is connected to the manufacturing company of the same name that based in Zwiesel.

Finally, in our discussion of those who competed exclusively in individual events, we missed one: Karl Möbus of FTC 1914 Palmengarten, Frankfurt am Main, who did not make a mark in the German-only target shooting event. As before, we wanted to review this topic in the hopes that, by getting their names out there a little more, we might one day learn more about them and their contributions to the world of sport.

Yesterday we had two important birthdays to celebrate and the one that we did not choose to feature was Dimitri Atanasov, born August 8, 1927. Atanasov represented Bulgaria at the 1952 Oslo Games, where he failed to advance beyond the first run in the slalom event. Although this is all that we know about him, we current list him as the oldest living Bulgarian Olympian.

Our last evidence of his being alive, however, comes from his 85th birthday announcement in 2012, which means that if we do not get any updates by the end of the year, we will have to remove him from our tables. That would leave Stoyanka Angelova, born May 28, 1928, as the oldest living Bulgaria Olympian. Angelova represented her country in the gymnastics tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, and later moved to Mexico.

(Erna Herbers)

Additionally, a few days ago we posted about the death of Marianne Werner, born January 4, 1924, who was the oldest living German Olympian and Olympic medalist in track and field athletics. The oldest living German Olympian is now Erna Herbers, born May 2, 1925, who represented her country in the 100 metres backstroke swimming event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she was 18^th. George Rhoden, meanwhile, who represented Jamaica at the 1948 and 1952 Games, was already the oldest living Olympic track and field champion, having won the 400 metres and the 4×400 metres relay at the latter edition, and is now the oldest living medalist in the sport overall.

Finally, we wanted to address one recent removal from our lists that is also an Olympic mystery. We had previously listed British speed skater Patricia Devries, born July 6, 1930, as alive, but according to an article titled “Off the Beaten Track” on page 14 of the November 5, 2022 issue of Speedway Star, she died a few years prior to publication. We know, therefore, that she is deceased, but do not have an exact date, or even a year.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to begin wrapping up a topic that we started to discuss some time ago, but never covered in full: eisstockschießen, or “ice stock sport” at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics. We have covered this tournament haphazardly over the past while, but we wanted be a little more organized now and touch upon the remaining mystery competitors that we have not yet mentioned. Today, we are going to take a quick look at those who competed in individual events.

There is only one individual that we have not mentioned who competed in both individual distance and target shooting events: Georg Lüftiger of Wintersportverein Holzkirchen. Lüftiger was fifth and sixth in target and distance shooting respectively, and was also third in the German-only team event. Despite his being relatively more prolific in the sport, we know nothing about him or his third-placed team: Englbert Kigele, Josef Raufer, Hans Schwimmbeck, and Ernst Vogler.

Three of the remaining individuals just missed the podium in fourth: Ferdinand Erb in international distance shooting, Franz Klarl in German distance shooting, and Johann Ostler in German target shooting. Josef Seilmaier was sixth in target shooting, while Werner Niemeyer Matthias Enzersberger and Otto Reisinger were seventh, ninth, and 11^th in distance shooting, all of which were the German-only events. Josef Körner and Franz Zauner also competed in the target shooting competition, but were not ranked.

Aside from assuming that Otto Enzersberger was somehow related to Matthias, as they were both members of the 1. Eisstock-Club Bad Reichenhall club that placed sixth in the German-only team event with Seilmaier, we know nothing about any of these men. We wanted to review this topic only in the hopes that, by getting their names out there a little more, we might one day learn more about them and their contributions to the world of sport.

Over the next two days, we have birthdays of two Olympians who hold titles among the Oldest Olympians. Both of these individuals, however, were last known living in 2012 and were featured in a blog entry earlier this year as such. Because of this, we wanted to mention them both in another blog post to discuss who will be their successors should we have to remove them from our tables at the end of the year due to a lack of updates.

(Im Gyeong-Sun, pictured at Korea JoongAng Daily)

The first is Hong Jong-Oh, born July 7, 1925, who would be turning 98 today. Hong represented South Korea in two editions of the Olympic marathon, placing 25th in 1948 and failing to finish in 1952. He was mentioned in 2012 as being one of the few local survivors of the 1948 London Games, which would now make him the oldest living South Korean Olympian, but we have not seen an update since then. If he were deceased, alpine skier Im Gyeong-Sun, born in 1929, would be the oldest living South Korean Olympian.

(Lies Bonnier)

The second is Lies Bonnier, born July 8, 1925, who would be turning 98 tomorrow. She represented the Netherlands in the 200 metres breaststroke event at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where she was eliminated in the semi-finals. After winning her first and only national title a few months after the Olympics, she retired from active competition, although she later participated in masters-level tournaments. She was known to be alive in 2012 and, if she is still alive today, then she is the oldest living Dutch Olympian. If not, then that title goes to canoeist Cees Koch, born December 30, 1925.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Norwegian swimmer Bea Ballintijn, born May 9, 1923, died June 29 at the age of 100. Ballintijn represented her country in the 100 metres backstroke at the 1948 London Games, where she was eliminated in round one. Domestically, she was champion in that event in 1938 and 1939 and from 1946 through 1951. When we featured her recently, we noted that she was the oldest living Norwegian Olympian, and thus we wanted to cover her successor in that regard in this blog.

When looking up information on the Olympian that we believed to be her successor, however, track athlete Viktor Olsen, born February 5, 1924, we learned that he died April 21 at the age of 99. Olsen represented his country in the marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he finished 16^th. Domestically, he was a five-time national champion (1954 1956-1959) and also won the 25 kilometer road race from 1953 through 1957. By career, he was a gardener.

This makes Ingrid Wigernæs, born February 22, 1928, the new oldest living Norwegian Olympian. Wigernæs took part in three cross-country skiing events across two editions of the Winter Olympics, finishing 27th in the 10 km in 1956 and joint-15th and 12th in the 5 and 10 km events respectively in 1964. She won several national titles over the course of her career, but her biggest international success came at the 1966 World Championships, where she was a member of the 3×5 km relay squad that took silver. She later turned to coaching, with her most notable success in that realm coming from her mentorship over the 3×5 km relay team that took gold at the 1968 Grenoble Games. Wigernæs was already the oldest living Olympian to have competed at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics and now resides in Oslo.

Finally, we have some additional updates on previous cases, including two of our Austrian Olympic mysteries that are now solved. Fencer Richard Brünner has been confirmed as the individual born November 18, 1888 and died November 25, 1962, while figure skater Fritz Wächtler did die on July 26, 1963. Finally, we learned the French gymnast previously known as Antoine Chatelaine, and then André Chatelaine, was actually André Chatelain, born March 31, 1902 and died January 14, 1968.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that German equestrian Willi Büsing, born March 2, 1921, died June 25 at the age of 102. Büsing represented his country in eventing at the 1952 Helsinki Games, winning silver with the team and bronze individually. He also won a silver medal in the team event at the 1954 European Championships and later became involved in sports administration. Most notably, he acted as team coach and veterinarian at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Summer Games. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic equestrian and the oldest living German Olympian. As we have done in the past, we wanted to provide an update on who now holds those titles.

The oldest living German Olympian is now track and field athlete Marianne Werner, born January 4, 1924. Werner represented her country in the shot put and the discus throw at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics, winning silver and bronze in the shot put in those years respectively. In 1958 she won the European Championships in that event and did not retire until the 1960s, after which she became involved in the teaching of sport science.

(Maud von Rosen)

The oldest living Olympic equestrian is now William de Rham, born August 22, 1922, who represented Switzerland in the show jumping tournament at the 1956 Stockholm equestrian Olympics, where he finished joint-19th individually and 9th overall with his team. The oldest living medalist in equestrian, meanwhile, is Sweden’s Maud von Rosen, born December 24, 1925. Van Rosen represented her country in the dressage tournament at the 1972 Munich Games, finishing eighth individually, which helped Sweden take a bronze medal in the team competition. She also earned bronze with the Swedish dressage team a year earlier, at the 1971 European Championships.

(Marjorie Jackson)

Finally, a few days ago, on June 22, we celebrated the 92^nd birthday of Australian cyclist Ian Browne, who was the oldest living Australian Olympic champion, having won gold in the tandem sprint, 2000 metres event at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Unfortunately, we have learned that he died two days later, on June 24. This makes Marjorie Jackson, born September 13, 1931, the oldest living Australian Olympic champion. Jackson represented her country in three events at the 1952 Helsinki Games, winning gold in the 100 and 200 metres and placing fifth in the 4×100 metres relay. She also won seven gold medals at the British Empire Games in 1950 and 1954. She later became involved in politics and was appointed governor of South Australia in 2001, serving until 2007.

Today on Oldest Olympians we want to cover two recent Olympic medal mysteries. As a reminder, these are Olympians who won an Olympic medal during their careers, but for whom we have no indication of whether they are alive or deceased as of their 90^th birthday.

Teijiro Tanikawa – Member of Japan’s swimming delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics

Teijiro Tanikawa, born December 20, 1932, represented Japan in the 4×200 metres freestyle relay at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a silver medal. He also competed at the 1954 Asian Games and took gold in that event, in addition to silver in the individual 100 metres freestyle. Aside from this, however, we have been unable to find any additional details about his life, including whether or not he is still alive.

Igor Kashkarov – Member of the Soviet track and field delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

Igor Kashkarov, born May 5, 1933, represented the Soviet Union in the high jump at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he won a bronze medal. He also took silver in that event at the 1961 Universiade and was fourth at the 1958 European Championships. Domestically, he was Soviet Champion in 1955 and 1959 and later worked as an athletics coach. Russian Wikipedia has a possible date of death of May 4, 2004, but even that page questions whether or not this is accurate.

Finally, just to finish off our list of mysteries, we wanted to mention the case of Víctor Flores. Flores was a member of Peru’s fencing delegation to the 1936 Berlin Olympics and was entered into the individual sabre competition, but did not start. He did, however, carry his nation’s flag in the opening ceremonies, but we otherwise know little about him. Our research suggests that he is likely Victor Alberto Flores Garrido, born October 15, 1908 in Catacaos and died January 29, 1985 in Lima, but we have been unable to prove this conclusively.

Yesterday on Oldest Olympians, we announced the death of Edna Child, born October 16, 1922, who died in May. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living British Olympian, as well as the oldest living Olympic diver. As we have done in the past, therefore, we wanted to provide an update on who now holds those titles.

The oldest British Olympian is now Jack Whitford, born January 3, 1924, who recently turned 99. Whitford represented Great Britain in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was 21^st with the national team and had a best individual finish of joint-69^th in the pommelled horse. He was also chosen to take part in the 1948 London Olympics, but broke his arm prior to the competition and did not take part. His brother, Arthur, was a 10-time national champion, while Jack won three titles. His wife, Pat Evans, was also an Olympic gymnast and lived to be 93.

The oldest living Olympic diver is now Birte Christoffersen-Hanson, born March 28, 1924, who was already the oldest living Olympic medalist in diving, as well as the oldest living Olympian to have won a medal for Denmark. Christoffersen-Hanson represented Denmark 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.

Finally, we wanted to raise the case of Abdallah Sidani, born in 1923, whom we have believed to be the oldest living Lebanese Olympian and Olympic wrestler for many years. Unfortunately, we have not heard of any updates since 2015, when he was alive and living in Saudi Arabia and, without any announcement of a 100^th birthday, we have decided to remove him from the living list. With weightlifter Moustafa Laham, born October 21, 1929, who lived in the United States and whom we believed for some time to be still alive, having possibly died in August 2014, there is only one Lebanese Olympian remaining on our table: three-time Olympic alpine skier Jean Keyrouz, born in 1931. As for the oldest living Olympic wrestler, that distinction now goes to Pakistan’s Muhammad Ashraf, born October 11, 1927, who competed in the lightweight, freestyle event in 1956.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to look at a few more Olympic mysteries from our list, all of which are competitors who represented Switzerland. As a reminder, these are individuals for whom we believe that we have a date of death, but cannot confirm that the information is accurate or connect it to the Olympian with certainty.

Edgar Juillerat – Member of Switzerland’s weightlifting delegation to the 1924 Paris Olympics

Edgar Juillerat, born in 1887, represented Switzerland in the featherweight weightlifting tournament at the 1924 Paris Games, where he placed eighth. Unfortunately, we do not know anything else about his career or life, so we cannot confirm that the grave in Riehen for an Edgar Juillerat, born March 20, 1887 and died June 30, 1967, is for the Olympian.

Ernst Mumenthaler – Member of Switzerland’s wrestling delegation to the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics

Ernst Mumenthaler of Zürich represented Switzerland in the lightweight, Greco-Roman wrestling tournament at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, where he lost two bouts in a row and was eliminated after round two. In Mumenthaler’s case, we do not even have an approximate year of birth, although we do know that an Ernst Mumenthaler born in 1902 died in 1985 and may be the Olympian.

Alfred Jauch – Member of Switzerland’s wrestling delegation to the 1948 London Olympics

Alfred Jauch, like Mumenthaler, represented Switzerland as a lightweight, Greco-Roman wrestler, although he did so at the 1948 London Games and withdrew after round one. We know a little bit more about Jauch, however, who was the junior national champion in 1940 and a welterweight senior champion in 1951. We are not certain, however, if the Alfred Jauch born January 14, 1923 and died April 28, 2006, who is buried in Riehen, is the Olympian.

Willy Senn – Member of Switzerland’s athletics delegation to the 1948 London Olympics

Willy Senn of Basel, born February 25, 1920, represented Switzerland in the shot put at the 1948 London Games, where he placed 13^th overall. He also competed in that event at the 1954 European Championships and placed 23^rd. A Willy Senn born May 25, 1920 died October 27, 1989 and was buried in Basel, but we cannot yet be certain that this was the Olympian.

Finally, we have only one more Olympic mystery left on our list that we want to share, even though he is not Swiss. Mohamed Zulficar, born September 4, 1918, represented Egypt in five fencing events between two editions of the Games – 1948 and 1952 – with a best finish of fourth in the team foil at the latter edition. He was a silver medalist in the team sabre at the 1951 Mediterranean Games and won six bronze medals at the World Championships between 1947 and 1951. We found a note of gratitude from the family of the late Mohamed Zulficar Bey posted in Al-Ahram on September 24, 1980 but, as we have thus far been unable to locate the actual obituary, we cannot confirm that the deceased was the Olympian, even though it seems likely.