Because we were unable to post an update yesterday, and because on that day we had two milestone birthdays, we have decided to post a blog entry covering three updates! First, we are wishing a happy belated 97^th birthday to Tom Gayford, the oldest living Canadian Olympic champion and Olympic champion in equestrian! Gayford represented Canada in the three-day event at the 1952 and 1960 Summer Olympics without reaching the podium. In 1968 in Mexico City, however, he switched to jumping and won the gold medal with the Canadian team. He also won three medals at the Pan American Games and gold at the 1971 World Championships. He later became an equestrian coach and judge, and also designed the jumping course for the 1976 Montreal Games.

Next, we are wishing a happy 93^rd birthday to Jakobína Jakobsdóttir, the oldest living Icelandic Olympian! Jakobína represented her country in three alpine skiing events at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games, where she was 31^st in the downhill, 41^st in the giant slalom, and disqualified in the slalom. She won a national title in 1953 and was still skiing earlier this year at the age of 92.

As for today, Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Australian rower Dave Anderson, born April 8, 1932, died November 5 at the age of 93. Anderson represented his country in the eights at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a bronze medal. He was also eliminated in the semi-finals of the coxless fours at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. At the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, he captured gold in the coxed fours and bronze in the coxless pairs.

(Bob Shaw, pictured at Welsh Athletics)

Finally, we want to thank the reader who found evidence that British track athlete Bob Shaw, who we covered in our last post as having been last known alive in 2014, was still alive in 2019, and thus he will remain on our tables.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we are continuing to review those Olympians who were last known living in 2014. We were able to cross three names off of our original list, as we discovered all of them being alive within the past year, so that leaves us with 11 to cover. Today we are going to look at the four names born from 1930 through 1932.

Wilson Gomes – Member of Brazil’s track and field athletics delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics

Wilson Gomes, born July 3, 1930, represented Brazil in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was eliminated in the quarter-finals. He was also entered into the 110 metres hurdles and the 4×100 metres relay, but could not start due to an illness in his throat. One year earlier he had taken silver in the 400 metres hurdles at the Pan American Games, while at the 1955 edition he was the bronze medalist in that event. We had an update that he was still alive in 2014, but have heard nothing since then.

José Flores – Member of the Dutch Antilles’ weightlifting delegation to the 1960 Rome Olympics

José Flores, born December 22, 1930, represented the Netherlands Antilles in the middle-heavyweight weightlifting division at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed 14^th. He was the silver medalist in that category at the 1963 Pan American Games, and set two world records in 1963-64. He was last confirmed living in 2014, but we have not seen any further updates.

(Gerry Ronan, pictured at the Toronto Public Library)

Gerry Ronan – Member of Canada’s field hockey team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics

Gerry Ronan, born December 10, 1932, represented Canada in the field hockey tournament at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where his nation placed joint-13th out of 15 squads overall. He was still alive – and publishing a book – in 2014, but we have been unable to uncover anything further.

(Bob Shaw, pictured at Welsh Athletics)

Bob Shaw – Member of Great Britain’s track and field athletics delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Games

Bob Shaw, born December 27, 1932, represented Great Britain in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in round one. He represented Wales at two editions of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games – 1954 and 1958 – and won bronze in the 440 yards hurdles at the former edition. Our records have him listed as still alive in 2014, with no further details beyond that.

That is all for today, but we hope that you will join us next time as we continue to explore this topic!

Last year, Oldest Olympians spent three blog entries covering those Olympians for whom we last had evidence of being alive from 2013 and would remove from our tables at the end of the year if we could not find any additional evidence of their being alive. Although we received updates on many of those names, several others have just been removed: Carol Bedö, Enrique Guittens, Tomáš Bauer, Michihiro Ozawa, and Marian Herda. Moving on to this year’s task, our list of individuals from whom we last heard in 2014 is 17 names long, and thus we will again be covering them over multiple blog entries. Today, we will be looking at those Olympians who were born in the 1920s.

(Paul Laporte, pictured at Radio Canada)

Paul Laporte – Member of Canada’s sport shooting delegation to the 1976 Montreal Olympics

Paul Laporte, born May 9, 1928, represented Canada in the skeet shooting event at the 1976 Montreal Games, where he placed joint-56^th. He was the 1973 World Champion in this event, but by career he ran the Rôtisserie Laurier in Montreal. He was mentioned as surviving his brother in a 2014 obituary, but since then we have not been able to confirm that he is still alive.

Otto Michtits – Member of Austria’s boxing delegation to the 1948 London Olympics

Otto Michtits, born June 20, 1928, represented Austria in the light-heavyweight division at the 1948 London Games, where he lost his bout in the first round. Although he was the national champion in 1948, 1950, and 1951, he never turned professional. If still alive, he would be the oldest living Olympic boxer, but we have not seen an update on him since an article from 2014.

Benny Schmidt – Denmark’s sole modern pentathlete the 1960 Rome Olympics

Benny Schmidt, born June 25, 1929, represented Denmark in the modern pentathlon at the 1960 Rome Games, where he placed 47^th and was his nation’s flagbearer in the opening ceremony. He won several national titles across various sports in the 1950s and, by career, was a military officer. When we posted about him in 2023, we were provided evidence that he was still alive in 2014, but we have seen no updates since then.

This will be enough for today, but we hope that you will join us next time as we begin to investigate names that were born in the 1930s!

Today on Oldest Olympians, we want to cover the Olympic mystery of Dutch sailor Jacq (or Jack) van den Berg, born December 19, 1916. While this date of birth means that he is certainly deceased, information on him has been difficult to locate and we are therefore featuring his case in the hopes that someone might have more details.

Thanks to research from Connor Mah, we know that although he was born in Birmingham, England, he was living in Weesp, Netherlands by 1936. He married Jannetje A. Motshagen in 1945, which led to him becoming the brother-in-law of Biem Dudok van Heel, who also married into his wife’s family and would later be part of the van den Berg’s Dragon class crew at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Van den Berg was also selected for the Dragon class at the 1956 Melbourne Games, but the Dutch Olympic Committee withdrew the crew.

Van den Berg and his wife lived in Naarden for two decades, and then Hilversum until at least 1974. After that, his trail disappears, although he was still alive in 2006, prior to his 90^th birthday, and was competing in sailing into his 80s. His wife, meanwhile, died in 2018 in Belgium at the age of 96, but there is no indication of what happened to Jack/Jacq. He is not located in Dutch registers of the deceased, either for those who died in the Netherlands or those who died abroad. This makes him a rare case of a Dutch Olympian about whom limited information can be found.

While we are on the subject of the Netherlands, we wanted to recognize an additional Olympic-adjacent centenarian. Henk Blok, born January 4, 1922, served as the coach of the Dutch men’s volleyball team at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, where the nation placed eighth. Credited as the father of that sport in the Netherlands, he died December 8, 2024, at the age of 102. Finally, we want to thank the reader who sent in links to demonstrate that one of the Olympic mysteries from the last post, Germany silver medal-winning cyclist Günter Lörke, was still alive as recently as 2017.

Today Oldest Olympians is looking at a new pairing of milestone birthdays, for which we have decided to cover together in a single blog entry!

(Percy Knowles, pictured at The Nassau Guardian)

First, we are wishing a happy 95^th birthday to Percy Knowles, the oldest living Bahamian Olympian! Knowles represented his country in three sailing classes across four editions of the Games, 1960 through 1972, with a best finish of fifth in the Star class in 1968. A businessman by career, he also served as Commodore of the Nassau Yacht Club and competed in masters-level swimming events into his 80s.

Secondly, we are wishing a happy 91^st birthday to Lothar Milde, the oldest living Olympian to have represented East Germany as a separate entity! Milde competed in the discus throw at three consecutive editions of the Games, in 1960 and 1964 for a unified Germany, and in 1968 for an independent East German delegation, where he won the silver medal. He won six national titles between 1961 and 1971, and later served as a politician in East and reunified Germany.

(Günter Lörke)

While we are on the topic, it is worth mentioning two other East Germans that we have listed as Olympic mysteries. The first is Günter Lörke, born June 23, 1935, who won a silver medal for unified Germany in the 100 kilometers team time trial at the 1960 Rome Games. He captured a national team title in 1958, but we have been unable to locate confirmation that he is still alive. The other is Heinrich Hagen, born December 7, 1935, who came in 24^th in the marathon for unified Germany at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. A Find-a-Grave page lists someone with his name and birth year as having died in 2018, but we cannot determine if this individual was the Olympian.

Today on Oldest Olympians, we want to cover some recent deaths of Olympic titleholders. The most prominent of them was French cyclist Charles Coste, born February 8, 1924, who died October 30 at the age of 101. 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.

(Nikita Simonyan)

At the time of his death, Coste was most notably the oldest living Olympic champion, a distinction that now goes to Soviet footballer Nikita Simonyan, born October 12, 1926, who was a member of the squad that won the tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Coste also shared a birthday with Wu Chengzhang, who is now the oldest survivor of the 1948 London Olympics, as he represented China in the basketball tournament.

(Colette Fanara)

Formerly the oldest living French Olympian, Coste’s successor in that regard is French gymnast Colette Fanara, born February 15, 1925, who competed at the 1952 Helsinki Games. The oldest living French Olympic medallist is Daniel Dagallier, born June 11, 1926, who took part in épée fencing at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Games, and won bronze in the team event at the latter edition. The oldest living French Olympic champion is now Jean Laudet, born August 5, 1930, who won the C-2 10,000 canoeing event in 1952.

(James Lauf)

Finally, Coste was also the oldest living Olympic cyclist, a distinction that now goes to American James Lauf, born November 1, 1927, who competed in the team pursuit, 4,000 metres event at the 1952 Helsinki Games. The oldest living Olympic cycling medalist is now Germany’s Gustav-Adolf Schur, born February 23, 1931, who won bronze in the team road race in 1956 and silver in the 100 kilometers team time trial in 1960. The oldest living Olympic cycling champion, Michel Vermeulin, born September 6, 1934, also represented France, but is over a decade younger than Coste.

(Günther Twiesselmann)

We also learned that German rower Günther Twiesselmann, born August 15, 1925, died September 24 at the age of 100. Twiesselmann represented Germany in the coxed fours at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was eliminated in the first round repêchage. Domestically, he won four titles in that event from 1949 through 1952, as well as a coxless fours title in 1951. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Olympic rower, a distinction that now belongs to Tony Purssell, born July 5, 1926, who represented Great Britain in the coxed fours at the 1948 London Games.

(Reg Gaffley)

Additionally, we were saddened to learn of the death of an Olympian who went beneath our radar: South African weightlifter Reg Gaffley, born September 1, 1927, died August 1 at the age of 97. Gaffley represented his country in the bantamweight division at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where he placed seventh. Two years later he captured that title at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Although we did not know it, he was the oldest living Olympian to have represented South Africa at the time of his death, which leaves that distinction to silver medal-winning track athlete Daphne Robb-Hasenjäger, born July 2, 1929.

Finally, a year has passed and we were unable to confirm the 100^th birthday of Pakistani field hockey player Anwar Baig, who was born in November 1924 and represented his country in the tournament at the 1948 London Olympics, and thus we have removed him from our tables. This leaves Muhammad Ashraf, born October 11, 1927, who competed in the lightweight, freestyle wrestling tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games, as the oldest living Olympian to have represented Pakistan. Baig was also the oldest living Olympic field hockey player, a title that now goes to 1960 Danish player Villy Moll Nielsen, born November 22, 1927.

Oldest Olympians is saddened to learn that Belgian boxer Ferdinand Bothy, born March 23, 1926, died October 21 at the age of 99. Bothy represented his country as a heavyweight at the 1948 London Games, where he was eliminated in round two. He then had a brief career as a professional in 1949, earning a 4-2-0 record, before retiring from the sport. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Belgian Olympian.

We next believed that rower Florent Caers, born November 17, 1928, was the new oldest Belgian Olympian. Caers represented his country in the coxless fours at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where his crew was eliminated in the semi-finals repêchage. He was still alive as of 2023 but, following Bothy’s death, we received a note that Caers had died on September 19, 2024, and so was never the oldest living Belgian Olympian.

(Yvonne Van Bets, pictured at kasskrabber)

This means that gymnast Yvonne Van Bets, born December 14, 1928, is the new oldest Belgian Olympian. Van Bets represented her country in the tournament at the 1948 London Games, placing 11^th with the team. She also competed at the 1950 World Championships and later became a coach, after a severe hand injury in 1953 ended her competitive career.

Finally, on the topic of Belgium, we featured Belgian sailor A. J. J. Fridt, who competed in the 6 metres class at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, as an Olympic mystery a while ago. Thanks to research from Connor Mah, we now know that he was Armand Fridt, born March 10, 1899 and died January 20, 1969. We also have a new Olympic mystery in Marcel Lambrechts, born May 4, 1931, who represented Belgium in four track events across two editions of the Games, 1956 and 1960. We used to have him on our list of oldest living Olympians, as he was known to be alive as recently as 2016. Someone added a date of death of June 4, 2022 to his Dutch Wikipedia article, however, and while we have not been able to verify this, we have removed him from our tables until proof one way or another can be found.

Today we believe that the oldest living Romanian Olympian, Francisc Horvath, is celebrating his 97^th birthday. We featured Horvath in our Olympic medal mysteries series some time ago, as he won bronze in bantamweight, Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1956 Melbourne Games. In response, one reader provided a report that showed him alive in 2021, but others have pointed out sources claiming that he died in 1969 or 1980, and it remains unclear which is correct. Nonetheless, since there is a reasonable chance that he is still alive, we are wishing him a happy birthday!

(Gebhard Büchel’s obituary)

Additionally, while we are blogging, we wanted to thank Horacio Hernan Macchiavello, who solved some of our Olympic mysteries regarding Olympians possibly older than Rhoda Wurtele. Thanks to him, we now know that Argentinian sailor Boris Belada, born September 29, 1920, died in 2000, and his compatriot Óscar Cervo, a sport shooter born October 6, 1920, died in 1984. Chilean boxer Manuel Videla was born in 1920 and died July 23, 1993, while Argentinian field hockey player Carlos Mercali was born in 1921 and died June 10, 1976. Finally, thanks to another reader of the blog, we now know that Liechtenstein track and field athlete Gebhard Büchel was actually born July 22, 1921 and died May 31, 2011, before reaching the age of 90.

Oldest Olympians blogging is back after a short break and has the same two milestone birthdays to celebrate as last year. Thus, rather than choose between them, we are featuring both in a single entry!

(Muhammad Ashraf, pictured at SBS Urdu)

First, we are wishing a happy 98th birthday to Muhammad Ashraf, the oldest living Olympic wrestler! Ashraf represented Pakistan at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in round four of the lightweight, freestyle event. He did win gold medals in this category at the 1958 and 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, in addition to bronze at the 1954 Asian Games. He coached the national team from 1960 through 1972 and then moved to Australia to run their wrestling squad. He now resides in Adelaide.

Secondly, British speed skater Henry Howes is turning 97 as the oldest living Olympic speed skater! Howes represented his country in four events at the 1948 St. Moritz Games, with a best finish of 18th in the 1500 metres. He won four national titles between 1946 and 1950 and now resides in Staines, Sussex.

Following up on a previous post, today on Oldest Olympians we are looking into those Olympians who may still be alive and were born between Yvonne Chabot-Curtet, the former Oldest Olympian titleholder, and the current oldest living Olympian, Rhoda Wurtele. There are 58 Olympians who fall into this category, as well as 10 demonstration event competitors and non-starters. There is also one art competitor, Wilhelm Andreas Herdey, born January 4, 1922, who represented Austria in the architecture competition in 1948. As a reminder, discussing these individuals in no way represents any belief on the part of Oldest Olympians that these athletes are still alive; we simply cannot confirm that they are deceased.

1920

Name	Country	Year	Event	Birthday
Hassan Abdel Fattah	India	1952	Athletics	October 23, 1920
Boris Belada	Argentina	1956, 1968	Sailing	September 29, 1920
Carlos Braga	Portugal	1960	Sailing	December 4, 1920
Alfonso Castañeda	Mexico	1956	Sport shooting	1920
Óscar Cervo	Argentina	1952, 1956, 1960, 1968	Sport shooting	October 6, 1920
P. S. Cheema	India	1960	Sport shooting	September 26, 1920
Emil Grub	Switzerland	1948	Field hockey	November 17, 1920
Abdul Ghafoor Khan	Pakistan	1948	Field hockey	1920
Silvio Merlo	Argentina	1948	Sailing	December 6, 1920
Rolando Mosqueira	Chile	1952	Equestrian	September 30, 1920
Supaat Nadarajah	Malaya	1956	Field hockey	1920
Mahmud Osman	Egypt	1948, 1952	Wrestling	July 10, 1920
Pedro Otero	Cuba	1948	Basketball	June 20, 1920
Marianne Schläger	Austria	1948	Athletics	November 22, 1920
Sein Pe	Myanmar	1948	Athletics	1920
Isamu Shiraishi	Japan	1952	Weightlifting	December 18, 1920
Rodrigo da Silveira	Portugal	1956	Equestrian	November 22, 1920
Karl-August Stolze	Germany	1960, 1968	Sailing	August 28, 1920
Tiến Vình	South Vietnam	1952	Boxing	October 1, 1920
Manuel Videla	Chile	1948	Boxing	c. 1920
Jaime Villafuerte	Philippines	1968	Sport shooting	August 26, 1920

Kiyotsugu Iho, who represented Japan in the kendo demonstration event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, was born in either 1919 or 1920. Óscar Arata, born c. 1920, was a reserve with the field hockey squad at the 1948 London Olympics. An Jong-Su, born December 7, 1920, was a reserve with the Korean football squad in 1948. Hans Mäder of Switzerland, born August 4, 1920, was a weightlifting non-starter at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

(Manuel Videla represented Chile in the featherweight boxing tournament at the 1948 London Olympics)

1921

Name	Country	Year	Event	Birthday
Mohammad Abdul Razzaq	Pakistan	1948	Field hockey	1921
Jahar Ahir	India	1948	Water polo	1921
Muhammad Aslam	Pakistan	1952, 1956	Athletics	October 10, 1921
João Azevedo	Portugal	1956	Equestrian	1921
Azmi Isma’il	United Arab Republic	1960	Water polo	1921
Gebhard Büchel	Liechtenstein	1948	Athletics	June 21, 1921
Chan Kooi Chye	Malaya	1960	Sport shooting	June 20, 1921
Charif Damage	Lebanon	1948, 1952	Wrestling	1921
Andrei Covaci	Romania	1952	Alpine skiing	November 23, 1921
Heinrich Enea	Romania	1956	Bobsleigh	December 18, 1921
Eduardo Estrada	Mexico	1948	Wrestling	October 12, 1921
Dionisio Fernández	Argentina	1948	Sport shooting	1921
Joaquín Hermida	Mexico	1964	Equestrian	August 16, 1921
Ivan Ivanov	Bulgaria	1952	Sport shooting	December 6, 1921
Lee Jong-Guk	South Korea	1948	Speed skating	December 15, 1921
Boris Lobashkov	Soviet Union	1952	Sailing	April 3, 1921
Ibrahim Mahgoub	Lebanon	1948	Wrestling	1921
Carlos Mercali	Argentina	1948	Field hockey	c. 1921
Mohamed Moussa	Egypt	1948, 1952	Wrestling	December 27, 1921
Agustín Muñiz	Uruguay	1948	Boxing	August 28, 1921
Jiří Novotný	Czechoslovakia	1948	Bobsleigh	April 2, 1921
Lutz Peters	Germany	1952	Field hockey	March 31, 1921
Daniel Pon Mony	India	1948,1952	Weightlifting	August 12, 1921
Héctor Ruiz	Uruguay	1948	Basketball	c. 1921
Lukman Saketi	Indonesia	1956	Sport shooting	March 20, 1921
Karl Heinz Schäfer	Germany	1952	Canoeing	May 3, 1921
Karl Schmid	Switzerland	1952	Athletics	July 23, 1921
Hermann Schneider	Switzerland	1948	Boxing	1921
Nasser Sharifi	Iran	1964	Sport shooting	July 4, 1921
Remat Ullah Sheikh	Pakistan	1948	Field hockey	February 1921
Ernesto Silva	Chile	1952	Equestrian	May 4, 1921
Atanas Tasev	Bulgaria	1968	Sport shooting	May 24, 1921
Abebe Wakgira	Ethiopia	1960	Athletics	October 21, 1921
Win Maung	Myanmar	1948	Weightlifting	1921

Hideo Muto and Hatsue Takahashi were both kendo demonstration competitors for Japan at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics who were born in either 1920 or 1921. Parly Jensen, born January 31, 1921, was a reserve with the Danish artistic gymnastics squad in both 1948 and 1952. Albert Dzhartsans, born January 17, 1921, and Villy Emborg Nielsen, born September 8, 1921, were non-starters with the 1952 Soviet and 1948 Danish cycling teams respectively.

(Mohamed Moussa represented Egypt in wrestling at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics)

1922

Name	Country	Year	Event	Birthday
Vasile Ionescu	Romania	1948	Alpine skiing	January 1, 1922
Pyeon Chang-Nam	South Korea	1956	Speed skating	January 11, 1922
Rolf Stoltenberg	Germany	1952	Field hockey	January 8, 1922

Hikmet Alpaslan, born January 1, 1922, was a reserve with the Turkish football team at the 1948 London Olympics.

(Rolf Stoltenberg represented Germany in field hockey at the 1952 Helsinki Games)

This finally catches us up with this style of updates on Oldest Olympians, so tune in next time for something completely different!