The oldest athlete to ever compete at the Olympics was Oscar Swahn, who was 72 years and 10 months old when he represented Sweden in the running deer shooting competitions at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.
Swahn's name is also in the record books for being the oldest Olympic gold medalist; he was a ripe 64 when he won the gold as part of the Swedish team that topped single shot running deer team event in the 1912 Stockholm Games. (For those wondering: no, they didn’t shoot at real deer, only at a deer-shaped target).
Swahn’s Olympic debut came in 1908 in London where, as a 60-year-old rookie, he won two golds and a bronze. In Stockholm, aside from his team gold, he also won a bronze in the 100m running deer double shots event.
After World War I, Swahn was back for his third and final Olympiad in Antwerp, winning a silver in the 100m team running deer double shots event and also competing in the individual and team single-shot events.
Editor's Note: To celebrate the 100-day countdown to the London Games, we will be publishing 100 tidbits about the Olympics. Come back to Yahoo! PH Sports, as we publish a new tidbit every day.
