Corrected on May 18, 2026 as I was previously unaware of the death of Kevin Wilson (sailing 1952) in August 2024.
With the passing of Munich 1972 sailor Gordon Ingate last Friday aged 100 – just the second Australian Olympian centenarian after Frank Prihoda (1921-2022) – Bryan Harper now assumes the mantle of Australia’s oldest living Olympian. Harper, 98, is among several long-lived members of our first Olympic canoeing team in Melbourne in 1956 and is 103 days older than Dick Walpole, our oldest living Winter Olympian.
Born and bred in Melbourne where he attended Coburg Primary School and Melbourne Grammar, Bryan now lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and recently attended an Olympians reunion organised by Benny Pike (boxing, Moscow 1980) where the youngest was 72!
Who are Australia’s oldest living Olympians? Here is a list of those who have reached their 96th birthday as at April 28, 2026.
Some other facts about our oldest living Olympians
• Australia’s oldest female Olympian is Nancy Lyons who celebrated her 96th birthday on April 12. Nancy is the only Australian survivor from the London 1948 Games where she won silver in the 200m breaststroke aged 18. She also competed in Helsinki four years later.
• Our oldest living Olympic medallist is Neville Howell (rowing 1956, 1960), also 96, who won bronze in the men’s eight in Melbourne and rowed in the coxless pairs in Rome.
• Our oldest living gold medallist is 94-year-old Marjorie Jackson – fondly remembered as ‘The Lithgow Flash’ – who won the women’s 100m and 200m at Helsinki in 1952. Marjorie is also the world’s oldest living Olympic athletics champion.
A comprehensive list of the world’s oldest living Olympians can be found at Paul Tchir’s Oldest living Olympians, which also features lists of Olympic centenarians, an historical list of the oldest living Olympian, and an historical list of the oldest living Olympic champion