U.S. Olympian Johnny Gibson passed away at the age of 101 on 29 December. New York-born Gibson competed in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, where he competed in the 400 m hurdles, failing to qualify for the final. A year earlier he had set a new world record in the event (52,6) and beaten the 1928 champion, the British Lord Burghley.
After retiring, he turned to coaching, and lead sprinter Andy Stanfield to two Olympic medals in the 1950s.
Austrian Minister of the Interior and former Olympic medallist Liese Prokop passed away on New Year’s Eve 2006. She competed in three Olympics, first in 1964 as Elisabeth “Liese” Sykora, when she didn’t make the final in the high jump. She then married her coach Gunnar Prokop and became mother, before returning to competitive sport.
As Liese Prokop she started in Mexico City, where she won a silver medal in the pentathlon. The folowing year she broke the world record in that event, and won the European title. She returned to the Olympics in 1972, but had to forfeit after three events (placed 8th).
By then, she had already become involved in politics, being elected in the parliament of the state of Lower Austria (Niederösterreich) for the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). From 1992 to 2004 she was deputy governer, before being asked to fill in as interior minister when her predecessor Ernst Strasser quit unexpectedly.
Prokop’s sister and nephew are also Olympians. Maria Sykora competed at the Munich Olympics in the 400 m, 800 m and 4 x 400 m relay. After missing the Montréal Olympics, she switched to handball, and eventually competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Thomas Sykora, the son of their brother Ernst, participated in two Olympics as an alpine skier. In Nagano 1998, he won a bronze medal in the slalom.