Talk:Arthur Marshall (engineer)

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"Sir Arthur Marshall died peacefully on the morning of the 16th March 2007. He shall be remembered fondly by all those who knew him from his involvement in Cambridge Athletics and Cross-Country, and Cambridge University Atheltic Club would like to send their heart felt condolences to his family."

Removed. Nice, but not relevant to Wiki. WillE 12:00, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Who is the next "oldest living Olympic athlete"?

Sir Arthur Marshall was the oldest living Olympic athlete since the 2004 passing of James Stillman Rockefeller. He also may have been the last living athlete who joined the 1924 Olympic Games. Who is next in this row?

I found an article (http://www.olympic.org/uk/news/olympic_news/newsletter_full_story_uk.asp?id=2080) about french athlete Roger Beaufrand, who is the oldest living Olympic champion since the 2005 passing of Feroz Khan. Beaufrand was born in 1908 and was alive as of February 2007. On 7 August 1928, to everyone’s surprise, Roger Beaufrand beat the leading sprinters of the day and achieved France’s only cycling victory by winning the Olympic sprint title. He was just 19. Is he, at age 98 the oldest living athlet?

I searched the french speaking wikipedia. Roger Beaufrand, who was born September 25, 1908 died at age 98 on March 16, 2007.

I'd wager that it's next to impossible for anyone without a full Olympic Database to figure out who the overall oldest living Olympic Athlete is. It's a little bit easier if you only look at medal winners, especially gold medalists, because better track is kept of them - but I went through all the people listed as Athletes in the 1928 Games and it turns out that the oldest medal winner wasn't even listed on Wikipedia - I wonder if there's somewhere that keeps track of these things? I presumed that anyone with a birth date and a gold medal who was born before Beaufrand is dead, even if their date of death isn't listed, otherwise Beaufrand wouldn't have been the oldest. In terms of gold medal winners, there's a few possibilities:

Godfrey Rampling is verifiably alive. He's the most likely candidate on Wikipedia for oldest living gold medalist (which doesn't mean too much though)

Alvin F. Rylander has no date of birth. He was part of the class of 1928, which ostensibly makes him born in 1906 or 1907 and therefore already dead, but there are people (myself included) who graduate at younger ages, so he could be younger than Beaufrand and still alive, but it's unlikely.

But those are only medal winners. The oldest athlete could be a non-medal winner, or perhaps someone not on Wikipedia. Two more possibilities:

Cemal Erçman of Turkey has no date of birth and no evidence to indicate his age. Given that he competed in the 1924 Olympics, and that most of the weightlifters in the 1928 Olympics were in their 30s, he's probably deceased, but not for certain.

Augustin Chantrel played on France's 1928 soccer team. He was born in 1906, but since he's not a medal winner, there's nothing that says he can't be older than Beaufrand and still living.

Cecil Smith was a Canadian figure skater. Figure skaters were often quite youngish, so she could easily be alive and younger than Marshall. Since she's not a medal winner, she could be older than Beaufrand as well.

I haven't gone through the 1930 Olympics. Perhaps after finals. Canadian Paul 20:22, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Norwegian ski jumper Hans Kleppen celebrated his 100th birthday on March 16, 2007. He joined the Winter Olympic Games of 1928 in St. Moritz. He also won a bronze medal in the individual large hill at the 1929 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Zakopane. So he might be one of the oldest living olympic athletes, although he did not join the summer games. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.137.73.110 (talk) 15:05, 19 March 2007 (UTC).