* According to Olympedia, Oscar Swahn is still the oldest athlete to have won an Olympic gold medal as of 2016
* Hiroshi Hoketsu was 71 years and 134 days old when he participated in the equestrian dressage event in the 2012 Olympics
Sometimes senior citizens give a tough fight to youngsters in the field of sports. The situation is no different with the Olympics. Oscar Swahn, shooter from Sweden, was 72 years and 281 days old when he participated in the 1920 Belgium Olympics.
According to Olympedia, Swahn is still the oldest athlete to have won an Olympic gold medal as of 2016. He was 64 years and 257 days old when he won the gold medal in team running target (single shots) in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. In the 1920 Olympics he won silver in team running target (double shots).
(Olympedia uses the last day of the event for the oldest participants.)
At least nine participants from across the world were above 70 years when they last participated in an Olympics game. These senior citizens participated in events such as equestrian, archery, sailing and shooting in different Olympic editions.
The latest edition that saw a person above 70 years participating was the 2012 London Olympics. Hiroshi Hoketsu was 71 years and 134 days old when he participated in the equestrian dressage event in the 2012 Olympics. Prior to that he had participated in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The maximum age from a participant from India was 66 years and 314 days in the Olympics games. Bhim Singh represented India in the skeet (open) category of shooting in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. As many as 68 participants from 39 countries had participated in that event.
Apart from him, no other senior citizen was part of the Indian contingent as a participant.
The next oldest participant from India was 56 years and 92 days when he participated in the 1980 Olympics in the then Soviet Union.
Karni Singh Bahadur of Bikaner royal family participated in the trap (open) event of the shooting competition in the 1980 Olympics. Prior to that he had also participated in the 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972 editions of the Olympics games. He was also a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) for 25 years. He served as MP from 1952 to 1977.