Top five oldest gold medal winners in the history of the Summer Olympics

Age was no bar for these athletes to clinch the topmost honour at sports’ biggest event.

The Summer Olympics is a multi-sport event where athletes from hundreds of participating nations contest. One would expect that the athletes to be young and energetic but that is not always the case. There are a few sports where an individual goes on to contest for a very long time, beyond their youth and middle-age. 

Since the initial years of the modern Olympics, there have been several athletes who struck gold at an advanced stage. Delivering a gold medal to your country when one is reaching the latter years of their life is a remarkable achievement. As the Paris Olympics got over, it presents a perfect opportunity to shed light on the oldest gold medal winners in the Summer Olympics.

Here are the top five oldest individuals who won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics.

5. Santiago Lange (54 years)

A sailor and a naval architect, Santiago Lange hails from South American country of Argentina. Lange has played in six editions of the Olympics from 1988 to 2016. In the sport of sailing, he won the gold in category Nacra 17 alongside teammate Cecilia Carranza in 2016.

This feat made him the fifth all-time oldest athlete to win a gold medal. He was 54-year-old at the time. Lange is also a four-time World Champion in sailing. 

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4. Jerry Milner (61 years)

Jerry Milner was a shooter who represented Great Britain and Ireland in the 1908 Olympics. The London Games remain the only edition of the Olympics when the United Kingdom was ranked at the first place. 

Jerry Milner won the gold medal in the Free rifle at the 1000 yards event. He was 61 years and four days old at the time, making him one of the oldest athletes to win a gold in the Olympics. 

3. Lida Peyton “Eliza” Pollock (63 years)

Lida Peyton Pollock, also known as simply Eliza, was an archer from the USA. At the age of 63 years and 333 days, she became the oldest woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics. 

She won a gold with the American archery team at the 1904 Olympics held in St. Louis. Furthermore, she won bronze in the Women’s Double Columbia and National Rounds. 

2. Galen Carter Spencer (64 years)

Another archer from the USA, Galen Carter Spencer, is one of the oldest athletes to win a gold medal. He struck gold at the 1904 St. Louis Games on September 19, 1904, on the day of his 64th birthday.

He won the gold medal in the team competition and finished thirteenth in the Double American round. According to reports, Spencer tragically died exactly one month after winning the gold medal for his country.

1. Oscar Swahn (64 years)

Oscar Swahn holds the record for being the oldest athlete to win a gold medal at the Olympics. The feat also received recognition from the Guinness Book of World Records. Oscar was a Swedish athlete, who competed in the Olympics in 1908, 1912 and 1920 editions in shooting. He also became the oldest Olympian of all time when he participated in the 1920 Summer Olympic Games.

During the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, he was part of the winning team in the Running Deer event. On the day of winning the gold, he was 64 years 258 days old as on 4 July, 1921. Oscar won his first gold at the 1908 Games in London. His overall medal tally consists of three gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

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