Today on Oldest Olympians, we are following up on an earlier post by looking into those Olympians who may still be alive and were born between the recently deceased Félix Sienra, the longest-lived Olympian, and the current oldest living Olympian, Yvonne Chabot-Curtet. As a reminder, noting these individuals does not represent any belief on the part of Oldest Olympians that these athletes are still alive; we simply cannot confirm that they are deceased. It remains, however, an important caveat and is always a possibility: language barriers, poor media coverage of older athletes, and desire for privacy from a generation when the Games were not as big as they are now all contribute to the chance that someone may have eluded our radar. In the past, several Olympic centenarians have reached that milestone with little public fanfare, sometimes not being revealed until their death and sometimes being older than Chabot-Curtet’s current age. We feel, therefore, that it is important to share this list to make our research methods a little more public and subject to scrutiny, perhaps solving a case or two along the way.

Hernando Navarrete represented Colombia in the 5000 metres track event at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

1916

[table]

Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday

Emilio Ballado,Mexico,Boxing,May 2 1916

Raoul Barouch,Tunisia,Fencing,May 12 1916

Eliška Boubelová,Czechoslovakia,Swimming,April 8 1916

Ricardo Bralo,Argentina,Athletics,August 28 1916

Lorenzo Delgado,Mexico,Boxing,August 10 1916

Yoichi Endo,Japan,Rowing,March 9 1916

Tatsuo Ichikawa,Japan,Ice hockey,February 11 1916

Masatatsu Kitazawa,Japan,Ice hockey,April 29 1916

Fusako Kono,Japan,Diving,January 22 1916

Aziz Malik,Pakistan,Field hockey,April 16 1916

Franziska Mally,Austria,Swmmingg,October 31 1916

Konstantinos Metaxas,Greece,Swimming,May 21 1916

Hernando Navarrete,Colombia,Athletics,April 28 1916

Daniel Sande,Argentina,Fencing,August 26 1916

Saw Hardy,Myanmar,Boxing,1916

Saleh Mohamed,Egypt,Weightlifting,June 24 1916

Borbála Sóthy,Hungary,Swimming,December 21 1916

Hugo Vallarino,Argentina,Weightlifting,March 27 1916

Koichi Wada,Japan,Water polo,July 25 1916

Takehiko Yanagi,Japan,Field hockey,March 28 1916

Kenshichi Yokoyama,Japan,Basketball,September 22 1916

[/table]

Scylla Venâncio represented Brazil in two swimming events at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

1917

[table]

Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday

Jehangoo Amin,India,Cycling,1917

Petre Andreanu,Romania,Equestrian,March 1 1917

Richardos Brousalis,Greece,Swimming/Water polo,1917

Horacio Campi,Argentina,Sailing,November 26 1917

Alfredo Carlomagno,Argentina,Boxing,October 5 1917

Helio Castro,El Salvador,Sport shooting,October 10 1917

Chang Ri-Jin,Japan/South Korea,Basketball,October 28 1917

Marin Gașpar,Romania,Boxing,August 15 1917

Gin Gang-Hwan,South Korea,Athletics,January 7 1917

Kosta Hakim,Egypt,Boxing,April 17 1917

Rudolf Kloeckner,Romania,Alpine skiing/Cross-country skiing/Nordic combined,June 10 1917

Karl Kögel,Germany,Ice hockey,October 26 1917

Vangelis Kouvelis,Greece,Cycling,1917

Lie Eng Soei,Indonesia,Sailing,May 15 1917

Qadri Mahmud,Egypt,Swimming,October 8 1917

Sajiro Miyama,Japan,Boxing,January 20 1917

Pavão,Brazil,Basketball,September 6 1917

Ricardo Roberts,Bolivia,Sport shooting,July 24 1917

Tsuneo Shibahara,Japan,Diving,January 1 1917

Gurnam Singh,India,Athletics,1917

Catherine Stevens,Belgium,Athletics,August 7 1917

Noboru Ueno,Japan,Athletics,January 8 1917

Scylla Venâncio,Brazil,Swimming,May 9 1917

Jorge Vidal,Argentina,Gymnastics,c. 1917

Taichi Yamada,Japan,Rowing,February 20 1917

Misao Yokota,Japan,Swimming,February 3 1917

Bouchaib Zeroual,Morocco,Rowing, 1917

[/table]

Ilona Szikora represented Hungary in the discus throw at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

1918

[table]

Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday

Leopoldo Briola,Argentina,Weightlifting,December 23 1918

Guillermo Canciani,Argentina,Sport shooting,November 18 1918

Souren Chowdhury,India,Sport shooting,July 27 1918

Jan Cools,Belgium,Wrestling,October 1 1918

Felix Erbert,Czechoslovakia,Swimming,June 9 1918

Oskar Holinger,Switzerland,Wrestling,July 22 1918

Kim Won-Gwon,South Korea,Athletics,December 13 1918

Guillaume Merckx,Belgium,Basketball,April 21 1918

Giuseppe Molinari,Italy,Equestrian,1918

Oskar Neuenschwander,Switzerland,Rowing,May 3 1918

Alfredo Petrone,Uruguay,Boxing,November 26 1918

Chhota Singh,India,Athletics,1918

Ilona Szikora,Hungary,Athletics,Janaury 17 1918

Khawaja Muhammad Taqi,Pakistan,Field hockey,1918

Daniel Trujillo,Venezuela,Sailing,May 24 1918

Carlos Villanueva,Argentina,Equestrian,July 30 1918

Yap Pow Thong,Malaysia,Sport shooting,November 11 1918

Ahmed Zahur Khan,Pakistan,Athletics,1918

Bram Zanella,Venezuela,Sport shooting,September 27 1918

[/table]

1919

Gudrun Grömer represented Austria in the diving tournament at the 1948 London Olympics.

[table]

Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday

Roger Anciaux,Belgium,Sailing,October 30 1919

Angela Anderes,Switzerland,Figure skating,July 10 1919

Fernand Bourgaux,Belgium,Athletics,December 25 1919

Germán Briceño,Venezuela,Sport shooting,August 13 1919

Mahmoud Fawzy,Egypt,Wrestling,October 10 1919

Oskar Gerber,Switzerland,Athletics,1919

Gudrun Grömer,Austria,Diving,November 7 1919

Günter Heine,Germany,Water polo,September 8 1919

Henri Hermans,Belgium,Basketball,March 3 1919

Mauricio de la Lama,Mexico,Sailing,December 11 1919

Georges Leenheere,Belgium,Water polo,November 21 1919

Min Byeong-Seon,South Korea,Equestrian,1919

Vasile Panait,Romania,Bobsleigh,July 11 1919

Pavel Parshin,Soviet Union,Sailing,December 22 1919

Antoine Raeymaeckers,Belgium,Wrestling,April 4 1919

Ítalo Sartori,Argentina,Rowing,November 29 1919

Manoel da Silva,Portugal,Sport shooting,June 1 1919

Rei Takemura,Japan,Swimming,April 29 1919

Gavrila Törok,Romania,Water polo,May 7 1919

José María Vallsera,Colombia,Sport shooting,June 24 1919

Frans Van Den Berghen,Belgium,Canoeing,September 25 1919

João Vieira,Portugal,Athletics,March 6 1919

Alexandros Vouxinos,Greece,Alpine skiing,November 23 1919

[/table]

Yukio Inokuma represented Japan in four rifle shooting events across three editions of the Games: 1952, 1956, and 1960.

1920

[table]

Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday

Minna Blüml,Germany,Luge,May 17 1920

Sayed Bulbul,Egypt,Football,March 23 1920

Yukio Inokuma,Japan,Sport shooting,Janaury 2 1920

Muhammad Khurram,Pakistan,Field hockey,March 1920

Manuel Solís,Mexico,Cycling,May 10 1920

John Stuart,Canada,Weightlifting,January 24 1920

[/table]

Next time on Oldest Olympians, we will take a look at the non-starters and demonstration event competitors that meet the criteria for this list. We hope that you will join us!

Today on Oldest Olympians we again want to highlight one of the centenarians on our list: American modern pentathlete Guy Troy, born March 15, 1923. Troy represented the United States at the 1952 Helsinki Games, finishing 14th out of 51 entrants individually and placing fourth with the American team, whom he also coached. Troy and the American team had had much better luck the previous year, when they took home the gold medal in the inaugural modern pentathlon tournament at the 1951 Pan American Games. By career he was a West Point graduate who served in the military, but for many years he also worked as an international event judge in modern pentathlon.

(Guy Troy)

Unfortunately, we learned that Troy died two days after his 100^th birthday, on March 17, at the age of 100. This makes Hungary’s Gábor Benedek, born March 23, 1927 the oldest living Olympic modern pentathlete; he was already the oldest living medalist in the sport.

(Gábor Benedek)

After serving in World War II, Benedek made his Olympic debut at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a silver medal in the individual event and, with the help of his countrymen, gold in the team tournament. He made a second appearance in 1956, where Hungary missed the podium in fourth and, individually, Benedek was sixth. He was also an individual World Champion in 1953 and a winner with the Hungarian team in 1954. For political reasons, he was banned from competing after 1959 and thus he took up coaching. He later emigrated to West Germany, where he remained until the end of the Cold War. He is now the last surviving member of his gold medal-winning team.

(Daniel Dagallier)

We also have an additional update on a modern pentathlete featured previously as an Olympic mystery. Lieutenant Pierre Coche represented France in this sport at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, where he placed 29^th, but we otherwise knew nothing about him. As researcher Taavi Kalju discovered, this is because the Olympian was actually Paul Coche, born January 26, 1904 and died November 24, 1996. On the other hand, we learned that French Olympic medal mystery Daniel Dagallier, born June 11, 1926, who won a bronze medal in team épée fencing in 1956 and also competed in 1952, was alive as recently as 2018.

Today on Oldest Olympians we wanted to provide an update on Vasily Borisov, born December 12, 1922, who we believed to be the oldest living Olympian to have represented the Soviet Union, the oldest living Olympic sport shooting medalist, and the oldest survivor of the 1960 Rome Olympics. Borisov represented his nation in five events across two editions of the Games, 1956 and 1960, winning one medal of each color and coming in fourth in the other two events. He was a 22-time medalist at the World Championships, including 12 titles, and also found success at the European Championships. A military man by career, he later worked as a shooting coach.

(Vasily Borisov in 1954)

We had seen reports that Borisov had reached his 100^th birthday and updated our tables accordingly. A new article, however, has revealed that Borisov actually died March 21, 2003 in Moscow, and that this had gone unreported previously. This makes Ennio Mattarelli, born August 5, 1928, who won the trap competition for Italy at the 1964 Tokyo Games, the oldest living Olympic sport shooting medalist, and Swiss track athlete Gabriel Reymond, born April 15, 1923, the oldest survivor of the 1960 Rome Games. The oldest living Soviet Olympian is now Yulen Uralov, born November 23, 1924, who fenced at the 1952 Helsinki Games.

(Pavel Kharin)

As for the oldest living Soviet medalist, that distinction now goes to Ninel Krutova, born January 3, 1926, who took bronze in platform diving at her third Olympics in 1960. The oldest living Soviet Olympic champion is Nikita Simonyan, born October 12, 1926, who was a member of the team that won the football tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Finally, we received the sad news that Pavel Kharin, born June 8, 1927, who won gold and silver medals in sprint canoeing at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, died March 6 at the age of 95. He was the oldest living Olympic canoeing medalist, a distinction that now goes to Ferenc Mohácsi of Hungary, born October 25, 1929, who took bronze in the C-2 1000 event at the same Games.

The report announcing Borisov’s death mentioned that it has been difficult to verify information on many Soviet Olympians, even those who won medals, which is a phenomenon that we have experienced in our own research. For example, we have seen conflicting information about whether rower Yury Rogozov, born September 8, 1930, is alive. Others fall into the realm of what we have termed missing links; for example, swimmer Farid Dosayev, born March 6, 1933, is listed as having died on November 19, 2021 on the Russian Wikipedia, but with no source. Similarly, sailor Vyacheslav Tineyev, born May 1, 1933, is listed as having died on May 20, 2013 on the Russian Wikipedia, but again with no source.

Oldest Olympians will 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 25 – March 3).

During that time, there is only one milestone birthday, but it is a particularly important one: Willi Büsing, the oldest living German Olympian, will be turning 102 on March 2! Büsing is the last surviving member of the German three-day eventing team that won a silver medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and he played a key role in this success, as he was the highest-ranked German in the individual event, placing third and taking the individual bronze medal. 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. He now resides in his hometown of Jade and is also the oldest living Olympic equestrian.

For the remaining entries, we want to acknowledge some Olympians who have died in the past year. First, French modern pentathlete Christian Beauvalet, born December 18, 1929, died July 23, 2022 at the age of 93. Beauvalet represented his country at the 1960 Rome Games, placing 15^th with the French team and 45^th individually. He was the French national champion that year and later worked as a fencing instructor.

Next, Bulgarian gymnast Mincho Todorov, born December 26, 1931, died August 2, 2022 at the age of 90. Todorov represented his country in two editions of the Games, 1952 and 1956, with a best finish of joint-sixth in the floor exercise in the latter edition. He was also ninth with the Bulgarian team in 1952. After winning several national titles between 1948 and 1954, he moved to Mexico and spent the rest of his life there as a gymnastics coach and administrator.

(Aino Autio, pictured at Helsingin Sanomat)

Then, Finnish track athlete Aino Autio, born January 4, 1932, died November 17, 2022 at the age of 90. Autio represented her country in the 80 metres hurdles and the 4×100 metres relay at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but was eliminated in the first round of both events. The 1951 Finnish national champion in the former event, she later worked as a teacher.

Just at the end of 2022, French weightlifter Pierre Bouladou, born November 18, 1925, died December 29 at the age of 97. Bouladou represented his country in the middleweight tournament at the 1948 London Games, where he placed sixth. This did make him, however, the top-placed European in this event at the Olympics.

(Nikos Chatzigiakoumis, pictured at Rodiaki)

At the beginning of 2023, Greek rower Nikos Chatzigiakoumis, born in 1930, died on January 2 at the age of either 92 or 93. Chatzigiakoumis represented his country in the single sculls at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in the round one repêchage. He eventually settled in Australia and competed in masters-level rowing tournaments.

(Bruce Sharp, pictured at Gymnastics Victoria)

Finally, Australian gymnast Bruce Sharp, born March 24, 1931, died January 12 at the age of 91. Sharp represented his country in the tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was seventh in the team all-around and had a best individual finish of joint-28^th in the horse vault.

The tables will not be updated during our absence, but we look forward to returning on March 4 to continue cover the Oldest Olympians! We hope that you will join us!

Today on Oldest Olympians we want to celebrate the birthday of Růžena Košťálová of Czechoslovakia, who we believe to be turning 99 as the oldest living Olympic canoeist. We have still not resolved our uncertainty from last year, however, as to whether or not that is actually the case.

Košťálová was one half of the silver medal-winning Czechoslovakian team in the Kayak Doubles, 500 metres event at the 1948 World Championships, which led to her selection to represent the country at that year’s Olympic Games in the Kayak Singles, 500 metres. Although she won her heat in the opening round, she finished fifth in the final. Having already won 12 national titles in the sport, she retired from active competition shortly thereafter and eventually moved to Switzerland with her family in 1968.

We based our belief that she is still alive on this 2020 document from the Czech Olympic Committee. A comprehensive 2021 work by František Kolář, however, Encyklopedie olympioniků. Čeští a českoslovenští sportovci na olympijských hrác, lists her, on page 178, as having died in January 2013. Both sources seem very reliable, and thus it is plausible that either are mistaken, so we have continued to list her as alive, although we cannot be entirely certain. Were Košťálová deceased, however, then Cees Koch of the Netherlands, born December 30, 1925, would be the oldest living Olympic canoeist.

(Rojas, pictured at Gobierno De Tehuacán Puebla)

We did, however, just receive an update on an Olympian that we have covered in the past: Mexican basketball player Fernando Rojas, born August 2, 1921, did not make it to the age of 100 – he died on December 26, 2016 at the age of 95. Additionally, judoka Aurelio Chu Yi, born January 31, 1929, whom we believed to be the oldest living Panamanian Olympian, actually died July 4, 1998 and the reports of his still being alive were incorrect. Finally, we have updates on two Olympic medal mysteries: Uruguayan bronze medal-winning basketball player Ramiro Cortés, born in 1931, died April 23, 1977, while German bronze medal-winning field hockey player Günther Brennecke died February 25, 2014.

Recently we noted the death of Uruguayan sailor Félix Sienra, born January 21, 1916, who was, to the best of our knowledge, the oldest living (and longest-lived) Olympian when he died on January 30, 2023. As we have mentioned, however, there are over 2200 Olympians, non-starters, and demonstration event competitors born between 1913 and 1932 for whom we have no confirmation on whether they are alive or deceased. In addition, there are 293 individuals who participated in the Games in 1928, 1932, and 1936 for whom we have no information on their date, or even year, of birth. Today we want to focus on the 44 Olympians who would be older than Félix Sienra if they were still alive. Three of them were non-starters: Shigeo Takagi and Masuzo Maeda, born July 28, 1913 and June 29, 1914 respectively, who were reserves with Japan’s Olympic water polo squads, and Hussein Ezzat, born in 1915, who was a reserve with the Egyptian football team in 1936.

It should be noted that 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. In fact, we find it highly unlikely that any Olympian who is between the age of 107 and 109 would have escaped our attention completely. It remains, however, an important caveat and is always a possibility: language barriers, poor media coverage of older athletes, and desire for privacy from a generation when the Games were not as big as they are now all contribute to the chance that someone may have eluded our radar. In the past, several Olympic centenarians have reached that milestone with little public fanfare, sometimes not being revealed until their death. We feel, therefore, that it is important to share this list to make our research methods a little more public and subject to scrutiny, perhaps solving a case or two along the way.

Mie Muraoka represented Japan in the 4×100 metres track relay at the 1932 Los Angeles Games.

1913

[table]
Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday
Osamu Abe,Japan,Rowing,August 11 1913
Sayed Ali Atta,Afghanistan,Field hockey,August 25 1913
Mohamed Hassanein,Egypt,Swimming,1913
Daiji Kurauchi,Japan,Field hockey,1913
Isamu Mita,Japan,Rowing,March 25 1913
Amin Mohamed,Egypt,Boxing,November 15 1913
Zafar Ahmed Muhammad,Pakistan,Sport shooting,July 10 1913
Mie Muraoka,Japan,Athletics,March 23 1913
Takao Nakae,Japan,Basketball,April 30 1913
Chiyoto Nakano,Japan,Boxing,February 7 1913
Shusui Sekigawa,Japan,Rowing,May 13 1913
Chikara Shirasaka,Japan,Rowing,August 18 1913
[/table]

Zenjiro Watanabe represented Japan in figure skating’s singles event at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics.

1914

[table]
Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday
Toyoyi Aihara,Japan,Athletics,January 7 1914
Yukie Arata,Japan,Swimming,October 25 1914
Jihei Furusho,Japan,Water polo,December 15 1914
Mitsue Ishizu,Japan,Athletics,April 16 1914
Masaru Kashiwahara,Japan,Rowing,October 30 1914
Masayasu Maeda,Japan,Basketball,March 10 1914
Sayed Masoud,Egypt,Weightlifting,November 15 1914
Iwao Masuda,Japan,Athletics,December 25 1914
Osamu Takechi,Japan,Field hockey, 1914
Kosei Tano,Japan,Water polo,January 22 1914
Anwar Tawfik,Egypt,Fencing,July 31 1914
Zenjiro Watanabe,Japan,Figure skating,February 11 1914
Hideichi Yoshioka,Japan,Wrestling,September 10 1914
[/table]

Jaime Ucar represented Uruguay in foil fencing at the 1948 London Olympics.

1915

[table]

Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday

Sayed Ali Babaci,Afghanistan,Field hockey,March 12 1915

Ali Erfan,Egypt,Wrestling,March 18 1915

Nélida Fullone,Argentina,Fencing,January 27 1915

Michihiro Ito,Japan,Field hockey,March 20 1915

Takeo Ito,Japan,Field hockey,January 5 1915

Torajiro Kataoka,Japan,Water polo,Febraury 7 1915

Hiroshi Matsunobu,Japan,Gymnastics,October 15 1915

Spyridon Mavrogiorgos,Greece,Swimming, 1915

Mitsuo Mizutani,Japan,Wrestling,October 5 1915

Hatsuko Morioka,Japan,Swimming,June 22 1915

Uichi Munakata,Japan,Basketball,November 26 1915

Junko Nishida,Japan,Athletics,November 3 1915

Konstantinos Pantazis,Greece,Athletics, 1915

Denise Parmentier,Belgium,Gymnastics,July 5 1915

Hiroshi Tanaka,Japan,Athletics,June 29 1915

Jaime Ucar,Uruguay,Fencing,September 24 1915

Sadako Yamamoto,Japan,Athletics,July 14 1915

[/table]

For our next entry, we will be looking into those Olympians who may still be alive and were born between Félix Sienra and the current oldest living Olympian, Yvonne Chabot-Curtet. We hope that you will join us!

One month into 2023, we wanted to share our yearly 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!

(The oldest living Olympian, Yvonne Chabot-Curtet, born May 28, 1920)

As of today, our full list contains 2299 participants, non-starters, demonstration athletes, and art competitors born between 1913 and 1932 that could be living, 819 of which we believe to be living for certain. The former number is down from 2387 and the latter is up from 635 from the beginning of last year.

We also have 294 Olympians (down from 373 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.

(Iris Cummings-Critchell, the last known survivor of the 1936 Berlin Olympics)

As of the beginning of this month, we have 13 living Olympic centenarians, as seven died in 2022 and two in January 2023. We also know of one survivor from a pre-World War II Olympics: Iris Cummings, born December 21, 1920, who competed in the 200 metres breaststroke at the 1936 Berlin Games. 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!

In our last Oldest Olympians blog entry, we mentioned the case of several architects who entered the art competitions for the 1936 Berlin Olympics while representing Czechoslovakia. This made us realize that we have a handful more of Czechoslovakian art competitors from that year about whom we know little to nothing, so we wanted to take some time today to cover them in their own post.

(Václav Houdek)

First, there was another architecture entry, titled “Construction project for the grandstand of the ‘Sparta’ Athletic Club”, which was meant to expand the seating capacity at Letná Stadium in Prague, which had been built in 1917. Of the three submitters, we have full biographical information on Václav Houdek, who was known for his projects in Slovakia. The names of the other two submitters, Josef Bauer and Jaroslav Nedvěd, are relatively common, and we have not been able to learn more about them.

In the music, compositions for orchestra competition, František Koubek submitted a work titled “Vlastní silou – k vítězství” (“With your own strength to victory”), but we do not have any other information about him. In literature’s dramatic works category, meanwhile, Richard Augsten entered “Eternal Olympia”, which was a “festival play”. Augsten was a secondary school teacher who wrote stage plays, but we do not know his biographical data.

Additionally, in the literature, epic works, competition, we have the most mysterious Czechoslovakian art competitor of all: an individual known only by the name “Jerry” submitted “The Meaning and Essence of Sport”. With this being such a common first name, as well as potentially a surname, we have been unable to uncover any more about this entrant. In this regard he is much like the artist known only as “Chiffre”, who submitted “Sports in Music” to the instrumental and chamber music category, representing Yugoslavia.

Finally, we wanted to thank our readers once again for providing us with new information on some of our past Olympic mysteries. Ralf Regnitter was able to confirm that German cyclist Paul Maue is still alive, while Wikipedia user Pbk demonstrated that the Czechoslovakian Věra Drazdíková who died in 1983 was indeed in the Olympic gymnast. Finally, Connor Mah passed on the sad news that Anna Van Marcke, born April 18, 1924, who we had been listing for many years as the oldest living Belgian Olympian, actually died shortly after the last update we had in June 2012. This means that speed skating champion Micheline Lannoy has been the oldest living Belgian Olympian since 2021.

Today on Oldest Olympians we wanted to wrap up 2022 by looking at some of the Olympic mysteries that we came across near the end of that year. These are individuals for whom we believe to have information about their deaths, but we either cannot connect it to the Olympian or we cannot confirm it in a reliable source.

Rudolf Procházka  – Art competitor for Czechoslovakia at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, a group of four architects from Czechoslovakia – Hans Ruda, Rudolf Procházka, Karel Martínek, and Egon Plefka – submitted an entry to the architecture competition entitled “Návrhem stadionu v Brně”, which was an urban study of a central sports facility for Greater Brno. It did not win a prize, and we know essentially nothing of the four architects who submitted it. We did find the grave of a Rudolf Procházka, born September 6, 1890 and died June 15, 1972, who is buried in Brno, but we cannot confirm that this is the Olympian.

(Dušan Houdek, pictured at the Slovakian Olympic Committee)

Dušan Houdek – Member of Czechoslovakia’s sport shooting delegation to the 1960 Rome Olympics

Dušan Houdek, born April 2, 1931, represented Czechoslovakia in two small-bore rifle sport shooting events at the 1960 Rome Games. In the prone, 50 metres, competition, he was eliminated in the qualifying round, while in the three positions, 50 metres, he just missed the podium in fourth. We know that he was alive at his 90^th birthday, but someone added a date of death of October 27, 2022 and a place of death of Nezdenice, Czech Republic to his Wikipedia. We have not, however, been able to confirm this.

(Dimitrios Michail, pictured at Gbotinis)

Dimitrios Michail – Member of Greece’s boxing delegation to the 1960 Rome Olympics

Dimitrios Michail, born March 19, 1932, represented Greece in the light-welterweight boxing tournament at the 1960 Rome Games, where he was eliminated in round two. He had had better luck the previous year, where he took bronze as a welterweight at the Mediterranean Games. We know that he was still alive in 2021 and living in Australia, but we are uncertain if this obituary for a Demetrios Michael, who died in July 2022, is for the Olympian.

Věra Drazdíková – Member of Czechoslovakia’s gymnastics team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

Věra Drazdíková, born February 1, 1933, represented Czechoslovakia in the gymnastics tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where the nation was fifth in the team all-around and seventh in the team portable apparatus. Individually, Drazdíková’s best finish was 28^th on the balance beam. There is a grave in Prague for a Věra Drazdíková born in 1933 who died in 1983, but we cannot confirm that it is for the Olympian.

One additional Olympic mystery concerns Hermann Lochbühler, who was a member of the German military ski patrol team that placed fifth in the demonstration event at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics. We found a record for an individual of this name who was born December 21, 1900, but we are not certain if it is for the Olympian. Finally, we wanted to provide a few updates to our posts on Olympians last known living in 2012. Thanks to our readers, we now know that Benny Schmidt was still alive in at least 2014, Milica Rožman in at least 2016, and Daphne Wilkinson as recently as 2021. Thank you to everyone who submitted information!

Today on Oldest Olympians, we are concluding our series on Olympians who were last known living in 2012. First, however, we wanted to thank our readers who provided us with updates from the previous posts: Üner Teoman and Fred Daigle are still living, while Aram Boghossian was still alive in 2015, so he is no longer in immediate danger of being removed from the list.

(Francisco de Andrade on the left)

Francisco de Andrade – Bronze medalist for Portugal in Star class sailing at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics

Francisco de Andrade, born July 15, 1923, represented Portugal in the Star class sailing tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he won a bronze medal. Although he had taken part in several World Championships prior to the Olympics, Andrade retired after earning this prize, as he wanted to spend more time with his family. He did, however, found and run sailing schools by profession. His partner, Joaquim Fiúza, was at one time Portugal’s oldest living Olympian and, having died at the age of 102 years, 24 days, remains the country’s only centenarian Olympian. Andrade is one of two Olympians that we missed on our list of Olympic “title holders”, as he would be turning 100 this year as the oldest Portuguese Olympian and the oldest Olympic sailing medalist. We have not, however, been able to locate an update on him since 2012.

Dimitri Atanasov – Member of Bulgaria’s alpine skiing delegation to the 1952 Oslo Olympics

Dimitri Atanasov, born August 8, 1927, represented Bulgaria in the slalom at the 1952 Oslo Games, where he was eliminated after the first run. Like Andrade, we missed him in our previous post, as he is a candidate for the oldest living Bulgarian Olympian. We have not had much luck keeping up with Bulgarian Olympians, however, and Atanasov is no different; our last evidence of his being alive comes from his 85^th birthday announcement in 2012.

Klaus von Freesen – Member of Germany’s rowing delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Games

Klaus von Fersen, born March 29, 1931, represented Germany in the single sculls at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in the semi-finals. At the European Championships, he won four consecutive silver medals from 1956 through 1959, while domestically he won the German title six times from 1955 through 1960, in addition to a double sculls title in the first year. We believe that he is still alive, as he is fairly well-known, but sometimes even medalists die beneath the radar and the last concrete evidence we have comes from 2012.

Paul Maue – Member of Germany’s cycling delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics

Paul Maue, born January 4, 1932, represented Germany in cycling’s road race at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was fifth with the team and 48^th individually. He was national champion in 1954 and had a professional career, but he retired after two seasons. His son Michael competed in the 100 kilometers team time trial that finished 12^th at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Again, we suspect that Paul is still alive, but our last piece of definite evidence comes from 2012.

Milica Rožman – Member of Yugoslavia’s gymnastics delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics

Milica Rožman, born August 5, 1932, represented Yugoslavia in the gymnastics tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, finishing 11^th in the team all-around and 8^th in the team portable apparatus, and had a best individual result of 44^th on the balance beam. She had been a reserve at the 1948 London Olympics and placed fourth in the team all-around at the 1950 World Championships. Like many Olympians that we have featured recently, we saw an update on her for the 2012 London Games, but nothing since.

Benny Schmidt – Denmark’s lone modern pentathlete at 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 carried the nation’s flag in the opening ceremony. He won a national title in the 4×100 metres in 1953, and then became the Danish show jumping champion from 1956 through 1959. He was a military officer for his entire career, and while it seems likely that he is still alive, we only have evidence of this from 2012.

Jaroslav Šír – Member of Czechoslovakia’s military ski patrol delegation to the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics

Jaroslav Šír, born November 8, 1923, represented Czechoslovakia in the military ski patrol demonstration event at the 1948 St. Moritz Games, where his nation placed sixth. Serving in the army, he was a member of the national ski team from 1948 through 1955, although he never won an international medal. If he were still alive, he would be turning 100 this year, although we have not heard anything about him since 2012.

Günter Stratmann – Germany’s lone fencer at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

Günter Stratmann, born January 8, 1931, represented Germany in all three fencing events at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he was eliminated in the semifinals of the foil and sabre and the second round of the épée. Domestically, he was a four-time German champion and, by career, was a businessman. His son Jörg took part in the sabre tournament at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. We do not know for certain if Günter is still alive, but we do have confirmation from 2012.

This concludes our series on Olympians who were last known living in 2012, which means that for the next blog entry we will be presenting a new topic. We hope that you will join us!