Laura Kraut made history on Friday at the Olympics as she became the oldest US medalist at the Games in 72 years.
Kraut was part of the US equestrian jumping team that claimed silver behind Great Britain at Versailles, where the host nation France won bronze. At 58, she is the oldest American to medal at the Olympics since Everard “Ducky” Endt, who won a sailing gold medal at the Helsinki Games in 1952 at the age of 59.
Kraut claimed silver alongside her teammates Karl Cook and McClain Ward, and their horses Baloutinue, Caracole de la Roque and Ilex. It was Kraut’s third Olympic medal in team jumping: she won gold in Beijing in 2008 and silver at the last Games, in Tokyo. The US have now won silver in the event in the last three Olympics.
The oldest ever Olympic medalist, excluding arts competitions in the early versions of the Games, is Oscar Swahn. Kraut has some way to go to beat his mark: he was 72 when he won a shooting silver in 1920. He is also the oldest-ever Olympic champion: the Swede won gold in the single shot running deer team event in 1912 when he was 64.
Elsewhere on Friday, Team USA won their first Olympic sailing medal since Rio eight years ago. The United States men’s skiff team, Ian Barrows and Hans Henken, were surprised by their surprise bronze that broke a dearth of sailing medals for the Americans.
“It was just disbelief, honestly,” said Henken. Barrows was equally surprised. “The whole fleet is so good that we knew we had a chance, but we knew things had to go our way,” he said.
