Texan Col. John Russell is now the oldest living Olympic medalist. The colonel, a show jumper, was on the U.S. bronze medal team at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952.
Col. Russell, who turned 100 in February, assumed the honor following the death of Swedish runner Folke Alnevik last month.
John Russell, second from left, met at the Helsinki Olympics with Capt. Antonio Reimao and Maj. Fernando Paes of Portugal and Sgt. 1st Class Norman Brinker of the USA.
Col. Russell served in World War II as a member of Gen. George Patton’s staff, selected because of his equestrian skills, and earned a Bronze Star, the Soldier’s Medal and a Purple Heart. After the war, he was named to the U.S. Olympic team for the 1948 London Games, part of the last U.S. equestrian delegation chosen from the U.S. Army. Col. Russell finished 21st in individual jumping on Air Mail.
After the Army equestrian team was disbanded, Col. Russell was selected for the first civilian U.S. equestrian team in 1952. At the Games in Helsinki that year, he won team jumping bronze on Democrat alongside Arthur McCashin (Miss Budweiser) and Bill Steinkraus (Hollandia).
In 1956, Col. Russell became the officer in charge of the U.S. Modern Pentathlon Training Center at Fort Sam Houston,Texas. Over the subsequent decades, he coached the U.S. modern pentathlon delegations at six Olympic Games, where his athletes won six medals, and 22 world championships. He helped organize the 1959 and 1977 World Modern Pentathlon Championships, and organized the modern pentathlon at the 1959 Pan American Games.
Col. Russell received the Pegasus Medal of Honor from the U.S. Equestrian Federation and the Gold Medal of Honor from the UIPM, modern pentathlon’s international federation. He was inducted into the U.S. Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 2001 and the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the FEI in 2010.
Since retiring, he has run the Russell Equestrian Center in San Antonio, where he and his sons carry on his legacy and train the next generation of champions.
British sailor Jasper Blackall is now the second-oldest living Olympic medallist and also 100, having been born in July 1920. American canoeist John Lysak, who competed at Berlin 1936, is currently the oldest living Olympian in the world at 106.
The oldest living Olympic champion is Hungary’s former gymnast Ágnes Keleti, who won 10 Olympics medals in the 1950s including five golds.He is 99.