Sport Sports shooting Name Oscar Swahn | Role Olympic athlete | |
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Who is the Oldest Olympian Ever? | Olympics on The Record
Oscar Gomer Swahn (20 October 1847 – 1 May 1927) was a Swedish shooter who competed at three Olympic games and won six medals, including three gold.
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Biography
At the 1908 Summer Olympics, Oscar Swahn won two gold medals in the running deer, single shot events (individual and team), and a bronze medal in the running deer double shot individual event. He was 60 years old, only a year younger than Joshua Millner, the oldest gold medalist at that time.
When the 1912 Summer Olympics came to his native country, Sweden, he was a member of the single shot running deer team which again won the gold medal. He also won bronze again at the individual double shot running deer event, but came fifth in the individual single shot event, which was won by his son Alfred Swahn. At 64 years of age, he became the oldest gold medalist ever, which he still remains up to today.
At the age of 72, he was the oldest sportsman to compete in the 1920 Summer Olympics. In fact, he was the oldest athlete ever to compete in the Olympics. His best results were in the team competitions: a fourth place in the single shot running deer event, and a second place in the double shot running deer contest. With this silver medal, he is also the oldest medalist of all time (not counting the art competitions).
Swahn did not compete in the 1924 Games because of illness.
In all of the team competitions that Oscar Swahn entered at the three Olympic games of 1908, 1912, and 1920, he was accompanied by his son Alfred Swahn, who also won one bronze, one silver and two gold medals in individual events.