With 2021 having arrived, we wanted to share some fast facts about the oldest Olympians in the world, partially to continue our commitment to transparency in our research but mostly just for fun and to share some statistics – after all, this is the Olympstats blog!
As of today, our full list contains the names of 2453 participants, non-starters, demonstration athletes, and art competitors born between 1911 and 1930 that could be living, 641 of whom we believe to be living for certain. The former number is down from 2647, while the former is up from and 595, around roughly the same time last year.
We also have 422 Olympians (down from 460 last year) who competed in the 1928, 1932, or 1936 Games, Winter and Summer, who have no date of birth but could be still living. It is worth reminding everyone that the vast majority of athletes that could be living are likely deceased.
We had nine living Olympic centenarians at the end of 2020, despite seven who died over the course of the year. We also know of three survivors from the oldest editions of the Olympics with living participants, the 1936 Berlin Games, with two survivors of this edition having died in 2020.
We will try to post a small update like this at the beginning of every year and, if you have any suggestions of statistics or information that you would like to see added, please send us a message and we will be happy to include it in the next round! Happy New Year to all!
We could not end 2020 without featuring at least one more Olympian from our nation of specialization, Egypt. We wanted, therefore, to quickly cover a competitor whom we discovered earlier this year was among the longest-lived Egyptian Olympians: Adli Roushdi.
Egyptian gymnast Mohamed Roushdi performs on the rings at the Empress Hall, Earl’s Court, during the London Summer Olympics, 12th August 1948. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
When we started researching Roushdi, we had very little to go on. We believed that his name was Mohamed Roushdi, and all we knew for certain was that he had represented Egypt in the gymnastics tournament at the 1948 London Olympics. There, he finished 13th out of 16 nations with the team and had a best individual finish of 50th in the rings. Eventually we discovered a middle initial of “A”, but otherwise even Egypt’s top newspaper, Al-Ahram, had very little to say.
As it turned out, we were looking in the wrong places. As we later learned from his obituary, Roushdi was born in Cairo on July 21, 1921, but moved to the United States in 1937, while still a teenager, and went by the name Adli Roushdi. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he was not only a gymnastics star, but also played basketball and swam. His later career saw him running swimming schools in California, working as a realtor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and eventually retiring to Columbia, South Carolina, where he died on April 28, 2016, at the age of almost 95.
His age places him among the longest-lived Egyptian Olympians, but more importantly we are happy to reconnect his Olympic identity with the rest of his life and legacy. This will likely be our last blog post for 2020, but we hope that you will join us in the new year as we explore more about the world’s Oldest Olympians!
In order to take an opportunity to catch up on blogging, today Oldest Olympians is looking into a case from a country that it has not covered previously. While today its official English language name is Myanmar, when boxer Saw Hardy, our Olympian of the day, represented it at the Games, it was known in English as Burma.
We have only been able to confirm two facts about Hardy in our research (“Saw” is an honorific equivalent roughly to “Mr.”). First, prior to his appearance at the Olympics, he was a police constable and saw success competing in police boxing tournaments. Second, he took part in the bantamweight competition at the 1948 London Games, where he received a bye in round one and was then defeated by Albert Perera of Sri Lanka in round two.
Aside from this information, we know nothing for certain. The Olympic entry lists have him as being born c. 1916, but this may be only a guess and he may be a few years younger. While the language barrier is considerable in terms of investigating his later life, researcher Connor Mah did come across notes of a Havildar (a military rank) Saw Hardy who was a former police officer that served during World War II:
This Saw Hardy was born in 1921 according to the discussion above. A 2016 report, however, lists this Saw Hardy as being 99 – which aligns with a c. 1916 birth year – and includes a picture, but unfortunately does not discuss his past sufficiently to prove that he was the boxer. If it were him, however, he would certainly be among the oldest Olympians, probably the longest-lived Burmese Olympian, and may even have became a centenarian. As it stands, however, this case will remain an Olympic mystery for now.
This is our quick post for the day, but we also want to acknowledge one more solved Olympic mystery. “The Pope” posted a link in our blog comment section that demonstrated that Charles Green, who we covered recently as being among our Australian Olympic mysteries, died May 6, 2009, at the age of 87. We wish to extend our gratitude to them for sharing this information.
Today Oldest Olympians is continuing its previous blog post, which looked at some of the missing links that we encountered during 2020. These are individuals for whom we believe that we have a date of death, but cannot confirm that the information is accurate. Today, we are going to cover three cases that were noted as deceased on Wikipedia, but nowhere else.
Amedeo Banci – Member of Italy’s field hockey delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Amadeo Banci, born August 18, 1925, was a member of Italy’s field hockey squad at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where the nation lost its matches in both round one and the consolation quarterfinals. Banci had a successful career on the national scene during the early 1950s, but otherwise we have been able to uncover little else about him. An anonymous user added a date of death of December 24, 2013 to his English language Wikipedia page, but without a source. Unfortunately, we have been unable to confirm this information elsewhere.
Adolfo Yedro – Member of Argentina’s rowing delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
Adolfo Yedro, born December 14, 1922, represented Argentina in the coxed fours rowing event at the 1948 London Games, where his country lost in round one against the upcoming silver medalists from Switzerland, and then again in the repêchage against Great Britain. He had much more success at the 1951 Pan American Games, where he took home the gold medal in the double sculls with Mario Güerci (another Olympian for whom we are missing a date of death). He had a successful domestic career in the 1940s and 1950s, but the only evidence of his death that we have been able to find was a note that he died February 21, 1989, left on Wikipedia, that remains unconfirmed.
Chang Lo-Pu – Member of Taiwan’s boxing delegation to the 1960 Rome Olympics
Chang Lo-Pu, born February 2, 1929, represented Taiwan in the middleweight boxing tournament at the 1960 Rome Games, where he was eliminated in the quarterfinals by upcoming champion Eddie Crook. A military boxer, he had his greatest success at the 1958 Asian Games, where he took home the gold medal. He later owned a boxing training center and operated a shipping cleanup business, and while the Chinese-language Wikipedia claims that he died in 2005, we have not been able to prove this in other sources.
We want to conclude this blog by thanking Paweł Kwiatkowski, who helped demonstrate that the architect Orhan Adaş who was listed as having died in September 1984 was indeed the Olympian, as he uncovered another article that noted him as an architect and fencer! We are a bit behind in our blogging, but we will have new topics for you all in the near future and hope that you will join us for them!
Now that we have entered December, it is time at Oldest Olympians to begin to wrap our business from this year and prepare for new data in the upcoming one. Today we wanted to catch up on some of the missing links that we have encountered in 2020; these are individuals for whom we believe that we have a date of death, but cannot confirm that the information is accurate. To begin, we are going to look at five individuals where we have data that we cannot link conclusively to the Olympian.
Frank Daniels – Alternate on the boxing delegation of the United States to the 1948 London Olympics
Frank William Daniels, born August 21, 1927, was originally from Illinois, but moved to Bakersfield, California and took up boxing as a middleweight. At the trials for the 1948 London Olympics, he was runner-up to Washington Jones and was thus selected as an alternate for the Games, although he did not ultimately compete. Given his common name and relatively low profile, we have been unable to learn much more about Daniels, but we did find a grave in Riverside, California for a Frank William Daniels, born August 21, 1928, who died April 9, 1990. While we suspect strongly that this is the boxer, we have been unable to confirm it for certain.
Valdir – Member of Brazil’s football squad at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Valdir Villas Boas, born June 3, 1925, was a member of the Brazilian football squad at the 1952 Helsinki Games that was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the tournament by Germany. Domestically, Valdir’s career lasted from 1947 through 1954 and included stints with Flamengo (1947-1949), Fluminense (1950), São Cristóvão (1951 and 1954), and Bonsucesso. We discovered the record in Rio de Janeiro’s Civil Registration of a Waldyr Villas-Bôas who died December 15, 1981 at the age of 57, which would be one year off of the Olympian if our current birth date were correct. This seems to be a likely, if unproven, candidate for the Olympian.
(John Lake, pictured on the far right, in the final of the sprint at the 1900 Paris Games)
John Lake – Bronze medalist in cycling for the United States at the 1900 Paris Olympics
John Henry Lake, born July 27, 1877, won a bronze medal for the United States in the sprint event at the track cycling tournament of the 1900 Paris Games and also competed in the 25 kilometers race. He was a national record holder at several distances and also a bronze medalist in the sprint at the World Championships. We know that he was still alive in 1942 and living in Staten Island in New York and thus we suspect that the John Lake listed in the New York Death Index as having died March 24, 1954 is likely the Olympian. We have, however, been unable to prove this.
Orhan Adaş – Member of Turkey’s fencing delegation at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Sabre fencer Orhan Adaş, born March 15, 1916, represented Turkey in both the individual and team events at the 1936 Berlin Games, and was eliminated in the opening round and the quarterfinals respectively. He continued to compete through the 1930s, but seems to have disappeared from the fencing scene after World War II. On September 21, 1984, the Turkish newspaper Milliyet published an obituary for an individual of this name, which seems a likely candidate for the fencer, although it is brief and mentions neither an age nor a sporting career.
Graham Vines – Member of the British cycling delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Graham Joseph Vines, born October 9, 1930, represented Great Britain in the road race at the 1952 Helsinki Games, finishing 31st individually and 11th with the national team. Vines had a successful cycling career in the 1950s, winning the national road championship as an amateur in 1952 and as a professional in 1955. He is also seen with a year of birth of 1932, and the England and Wales Death Index lists a Graham Joseph Vines as having died on March 10, 2019. Without an obituary to back up this entry, however, we are unable to confirm that it belongs to the cyclist.
Finally, we wanted to conclude with a few updates to previous blog entries. Research by Connor Mah and Rob Gilmore has confirmed that the California Death Index record for Alfred Stefani, born August 28, 1926 and died October 2, 1992, was indeed the Canadian rowing Olympian. The son of Olympic swimmer Jackie LaVine, meanwhile, confirmed that his mother was still alive as of September 2020. Finally, we heard from no less than Australian Olympian Trevor Vincent that Dave “The Flying Milkman” Stephens, one of our recent Australian Olympic mysteries, is still alive. In a few days, we will be continuing our look into these miscellaneous Olympic missing links by looking at a handful of Olympians who were declared deceased on Wikipedia, but nowhere else. We hope that you will join us!
Today on Oldest Olympians we are finishing our series on missing dates of death for Canadian Olympians born before 1931. Today we have only three individuals to cover, those who competed after the 1948 London Games.
Rosella Thorne – Member of Canada’s athletics delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Rosella Thorne, born December 11, 1930, likely holds the distinction of being the first black woman to represent Canada at the Olympic Games. She was entered into four track and field events at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but only competed in three, the 100 metres, the 80 metres hurdles, and the long jump, and was eliminated in the first round of all of them. At the 1950 British Empire Games, she was fifth in the high jump, seventh in the long jump, and eliminated in the heats of the 80 meters hurdles, while in 1954 she just missed the podium in fourth in the long jump. Thorne later moved to California, where we believe that she is still living, but the last time we were able to confirm this for certain was 2008, which lies just outside when we would list someone as living.
Nick Mohammed – Member of Canada’s wrestling delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Indian-born Niaz “Nick” Mohammed moved to Canada at a young age and represented his country as a welterweight wrestler after World War II. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he competed in the freestyle category, but was eliminated after his first two bouts. By career he was a welder, although he later worked as a wrestling referee. He was still alive and living in British Columbia as recently as 2002, but we have been unable to confirm what happened to him after that.
Ian Johnston – Member of Canada’s field hockey team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
Born in Dublin on March 3, 1929, Ian Johnston represented Canada in the field hockey tournament at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where the nation was eliminated in the preliminary round. He was a notable figure in the British Columbian and Canadian field hockey scene, but we have been unable to trace his ultimate fate.
This concludes our series on Canadian Olympic mysteries for now, although we want to end on a positive note by acknowledging a case from this series that has been solved: Connor Mah was able to find a month of death of October 1996 for rower Charles Matteson. Next week we will have something new to feature, so we hope that you will join us!
Today on Oldest Olympians we are going to move on to part three of our series of missing dates of death for Canadian Olympians born before 1931. Thanks to the thorough research of Connor Mah and Rob Gilmore, one of the cases was solved during in the interim, and we have plenty of details for the remaining five individuals who competed at the 1948 London Games.
Bill Hamilton – Member of Canada’s cycling delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
The only person on this list that may not quite have reached his 90th birthday is cyclist Bill Hamilton, born c. 1930. He was a member of the team pursuit, 4000 metres squad that was eliminated in round one of the event at the 1948 London Games. At the 1950 British Empire Games, he was 13th in the time trial and did not finish the road race. Despite the fact that he is a member of the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame, we have been unable to uncover more information about him.
(Dick Townsend, pictured on the right)
Dick Townsend – Member of Canada’s Swallow class crew at the 1948 London Olympics
Born c. 1929, Dick Townsend was a member of the Swallow class crew, along with John Robertson, that finished seventh in that event at the 1948 London Games. A relative youngster at the time of the Olympics, particularly for a sailor of that era, he later made more of a name for himself in the athletic world as a skier. Research undertaken in the city directories of Hamilton, Ontario, where he was from, suggests that he may have died in 1982, but we have been unable to verify this for certain.
John Stuart – Member of Canada’s weightlifting delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
Scotland-born John Stuart, born c. 1920, moved to Canada in 1923 and represented that country in lightweight weightlifting at three major international events. In 1947, he won silver at the World Championships, in 1948 he was fifth at the London Olympics, and in 1950 he was again fifth, this time at the British Empire Games. During the 1940s he worked at an office equipment shipping company in Montreal, but although we know the dates of death for most of his family members, we have been unable to confirm one for John.
Vivian King – Member of Canada’s swimming delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
Although also seen with a birth year of 1931, most sources show that swimmer Vivian King was born April 4, 1930. She was entered into three events at the 1948 London Games, but only competed in two: the 400 metres freestyle and the 4×100 metres freestyle relay, not reaching the final in either. Her achievements at the domestic level, both amateur and professional, led to her to be inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1984. The last mention we were able to find of her as alive was in 1990, but as we cannot find mention of her death either, we suspect that she is still alive and retired into private life.
Diane Foster – Bronze medalist in the 4×100 metres relay at the 1948 London Olympics
Diane Foster, born March 3, 1928, is the only individual in this post that we know is deceased. She won a bronze medal in the 4×100 metres relay at the 1948 London Games and was eliminated in the first round of the 200 metres. We know that she was still alive in 1991, but was deceased by 2018, and we suspect that she died in the early 2000s. We have, however, been unable to come up with a precise date, or even a year, for her death.
We still have three more individuals who competed after 1948 left to cover, so we will be wrapping up our series on Canadian Olympic mysteries next week. We hope that you will join us!
Today on Oldest Olympians, we are going to continue our inquiry from last week into missing dates of death for Canadian Olympians born before 1931. One of the cases was solved during in the interim, leaving us with five individuals who competed exclusively in the interwar period.
Ralph Adams – Member of Canada’s athletics delegation to the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics
Ralph Adams, born July 9, 1907, took part in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and the 4×100 metres events at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, but was unable to reach the podium in any of them. He had much more success at the inaugural 1930 British Empire Games, where he won gold in the 4×110 yards relay. He was a contender for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, but was not selected for the final team. Research has suggested that he may have died in 1976 and been buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Simcoe, Ontario, but we have been unable to confirm this.
Al Taylor – Bronze medalist for Canada in the coxed eights at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics
A bronze medal mystery, Al Taylor, born in 1911, helped Canada take third in the coxed eights at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, as well as the 1930 British Empire Games. Despite these successes, there is very little information available on Taylor and his career in contemporary sources. One candidate is police constable Albert Taylor of Hamilton, born May 20, 1911, but he has no known connection to rowing. Another candidate, if the year of birth were incorrect, would be an Albert Taylor born c. 1905 who also lived in Hamilton. Neither individual, however, has a date of death known to us.
Jimmy Bartlett – Competitor for Canada in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
England-born Jimmy Bartlett, born December 29, 1907, represented Canada in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Games, where he placed 15th. He was a top marathoner in the 1930s, but seemed to disappear after World War II. We suspect strongly that he is the James Alfred Bartlett, born May 1, 1908, who died on July 30, 1971 and is buried in Oshawa (link here), but we have been unable to confirm this for certain.
Charles Matteson – Member of Canada’s coxed eights squad at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
We know very little of Charles “Tiny” Matteson, born June 8, 1913, who represented Canada in the coxed eights at the 1936 Berlin Games and was eliminated in the semifinals. Aside from the fact that he was a member of the Leander Boat Club of Hamilton, we have no leads on his later life or when and where he might have died.
Aileen Thomas – Member of Canada’s fencing delegation to the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Aileen Thomas, born June 3, 1907, represented Canada in the women’s individual foil fencing competition at the 1936 Berlin Games, but was eliminated in the first round. We believe that she may have died in 1989 in the Toronto area, where she was from, but we have been unable to confirm this fact with certainty.
Next week we are going to look at the six individuals who competed at the 1948 London Games who are missing dates of death. Only two of these individuals are known to be deceased, leaving four who may still be alive – we hope that you will join us as we delve deeper into this topic!
For the past two weeks we have been looking into Australian Olympians who were born before 1931 and who were not known to be living and lacked a date of death. Today, we are moving on to a somewhat bigger challenge: those from Canada who meet that same criteria. According to our lists, there are 31 Canadians born before 1931 missing dates of death or confirmation of them being alive. We have covered 11 of them in the past – nine members of the 1904 Mohawk lacrosse team, Bob Lymburne, and Ralf Olin (who we have now learned died sometime in the early-to-mid 2000s). That leaves 20 Canadians left to cover, which is far too many for a single post. Today, therefore, we are going to look into the five individuals who competed prior to World War I, all of whom, of course, are definitely deceased.
Jimmy Fitzgerald – Member of Canada’s athletics delegation to the 1908 London Olympics
James Frances Fitzgerald, born November 3, 1883, represented Canada in three events at the 1908 London Games – the five mile, the 1500 metres, and the 3200 metres steeplechase – and was also entered in the 800 metres, but did not start. His best result was finishing seventh in the five mile. He was identified previously as John Ebenezer Fitzgerald, born September 8, 1886 and died in 1963, but this has been proven to be incorrect. Although we have evidence of him being alive and living in Boston in 1955, we have been unable to confirm what happened to him after that.
Eddie Cotter – Member of Canada’s athletics delegation to the 1908 London Olympics
Fitzgerald’s teammate Edward Vernon Cotter, born December 27, 1887, was also entered into the five mile event at the 1908 London Games, but only ended up competing in the marathon, which he did not finish. He was a successful marathoner at the national level during this era, but we have been unable to track his later activities. There is a listing at Find-A-Grave of a grave for an Edward V. Cotter, born in 1887, who died in the Waterloo region in 1973, which seems likely to be him, but have been unable to prove this.
Bruce Williams – Bronze medalist for Canada in sport shooting at the 1908 London Olympics
Bruce Williams, born December 1876 in Nova Scotia, won a bronze medal in the military rifle team event at the 1908 London Games. Aside from the unit with which he served, we know almost nothing about Williams, although one researcher has suggested that he is actually Bertram Mills Williams, born December 18, 1876 and died January 24, 1934. While this seems like a promising lead, we have been unable to verify it.
Mylie Fletcher – Silver medalist for Canada in sport shooting at the 1908 London Olympics
Despite his uncommon name, Mylie Fletcher is the only individual that we will be featuring who lacks even a suggested year of birth. He took silver in the team trap event at the 1908 London Games and also finished joint-seventh individually. We again suspect a misidentification here and that he is actually Hamilton, Ontario firefighter Miles Edwin Fletcher, born August 23, 1868 and died in 1959, but we have been unable to confirm it thus far.
George Beattie – Three-time sport shooting silver medalist for Canada
George Beattie is the only individual on this list who competed after World War I as well as before it and, unsurprisingly, is the one that we know the most about. Participating in 1908, 1920, and 1924, he took silver in the team trap in 1908 and 1924 and individually in 1908. A game warden by trade, we were able to confirm that he was still alive and living in Hamilton in 1946. After that point, however, we have been unable to trace him.
Beattie is a good segue into our topic for next week, when we will look into the six Canadians who competed exclusively during the interwar period. We hope you will join us for this continuing series!
Today on Oldest Olympians, we are going to continue our inquiry from last week into missing dates of death for Australian Olympians. There are nine individuals born before 1931 for whom we are missing a date of death and who are not known to be living (not 11 – we miscounted previously!). Last week, we looked at the five who are definitely deceased, but for whom we do not know the exact date. This week, we are looking at the remaining four, who may still be living.
Ted Allsopp – Member of Australia’s track delegations to the 1956 and 1964 Summer Olympics
Ted Allsopp, born August 15, 1926, represented Australia in three athletics events across two editions of the Games. In 1956 in Melbourne, he was 10th in the 20 km walk and also competed in the 50 km. In 1964 in Tokyo he was 17th in the 50 km. We actually know more about Ted Allsopp than almost any other individual featured as an Olympic mystery, thanks to this detailed biography from the Victorian Race Walking Club. Unfortunately, the one piece of information that eludes us is perhaps the most important one: whether or not he is still alive.
Bryan Harper – Member of Australia’s canoeing delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
Bryan Harper, born in 1927, represented Australia in two canoeing events at the 1956 Melbourne Games, placing seventh in the C-1 1000 and ninth in the C-1 10000. Although he was among his country’s most prominent canoers, we have been unable to locate information about his later life, aside from the fact that he donated his homemade paddle that he used at the Olympics to the Australian Sports Museum around 1990, when he was possibly living in the Queensland region.
Dave Stephens – Member of Australia’s track delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
As with Ted Allsopp, we know much about Dave “The Flying Milkman” Stephens, born November 11, 1928. At the 1956 Melbourne Games, he placed 20th in the 10,000 metres, but he had a more successful domestic career and later became a teacher, working in that profession at least through 1980. Unfortunately, while many sources continue to celebrate his achievements, none have been able to shed light on whether he is still living or what his date of death was.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 23: Former 1956 Clay Target Olympian John Bryant poses before the Men’s Trap final on day eight of the 18th Commonwealth Games at the Melbourne Gun Club March 23, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images)
John Bryant – Member of Australia’s shooting delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
John Bryant, born November 26, 1930, would be just a little too young to be considered among the oldest living Olympians were he still alive, but we want to feature him regardless. He represented Australia in the trap shooting competition at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he placed ninth. Unfortunately, search results for him are clouded by the notorious Australian mass shooter Martin John Bryant, but we did learn that he was still alive and living in Melbourne in 2006. Unfortunately, this falls outside of the range for which we would consider an individual still living, so the quest for more information continues.
As mentioned above, we originally stated that there were 11 uncertain names, but we counted one name twice and missed the fact that another was still alive, which leaves us with nine Australian Olympic mysteries. Next week, we are going to move on to Canada and examine the Olympic mysteries that we have from that country. We hope that you will join us!
