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Pat Bigold

The Way I See It

By Pat Bigold

Tuesday, November 16, 1999


USOC should
give Soule what
she deserves

WHEN Slovenia's 100-year-old Leon Stukelj, the world's oldest Olympic gold medalist, died on Nov. 8, I had to wonder:

Who inherits that distinction?

Could it be that she lives right here?

Aileen Riggin Soule, a 43-year resident of Honolulu, became the first female springboard diving gold medalist in 1920 in Antwerp.

She turned 93 this year and is widely regarded as America's oldest living Olympic champion.

Watching Stukelj being honored at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, I felt Soule should have received at least some degree of the recognition he got, at either the opening or closing ceremonies.

The Swimming Hall of Famer was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word, enduring harsh competitive conditions to win her gold at age 14. She didn't dive into a pool. She dove into a cold, murky Belgian moat.

It would be awfully hard to find another gold medalist from an Olympics as far back as 1920. And the last survivor from the 1912 Olympics (there was no competition in 1916) died about five years ago.

Stukelj's first golds were won in 1924 in Paris.

SO, when I heard of his death, I was thinking Soule might finally have the modern Olympic moment she deserves.

And it would come on the 80th anniversary of her medal feat.

I called the USOC alumni office to ask if Soule succeeds Stukelj, but was referred to 1968 Olympic decathlon gold medalist Bill Toomey in California.

Toomey is secretary general of the World Olympians Association.

An admirer of Soule who strongly believes she deserves recognition in Sydney next year, he referred me to Olympic historian Steve Harris in Vermont.

Harris, as it turned out, primarily researches Olympic decathletes. But he wasted no time calling his contacts in this country and Europe in an effort find an answer.

One of those European contacts told Harris that the oldest gold winner is actually a 97-year-old Dutch woman named Alie J. van den Bos. She is feeble and unwilling to talk to the media anymore.

Van den Bos won a "team" gold in gymnastics in 1928.

"But there could be someone alive we don't even know about," conceded Harris, who said the hunt will continue.

HE pointed out there are 70,000 past Olympians around the world.

Bill Mallon, founding member of the International Society of Olympic Historians and author of about 20 books on the Olympics, is now trying to confirm that Soule is America's oldest gold medalist.

Regardless of where she stands in the world or the country, the good news is that Toomey will propose that the International Olympic Committee sponsor Soule in Sydney.

He said he'll suggest that she be involved in the opening ceremonies or present the diving medals.

That failing, Toomey said he will try to get a commercial sponsor for her.

I say the IOC would be hard-pressed to find a more vital or engaging personality as its link to Olympic history next summer. Soule could be a media hit in Sydney.

She can still tell vivid stories of an era to which only she holds the key.



Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.



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