THE world’s oldest surviving Olympian has died peacefully at his home in Virginia at the age of 106 after a truly extraordinary life.

Walter R Walsh was born in New Jersey in 1907, and signed up for the FBI after graduating from law school in 1934.
With America gripped by prohibition-era racketeering at the time, the youngster felt that his skill with guns – which he’d acquired as a boy when shooting clothes pegs off a washing line with his BB gun – might help him out.
“I thought to myself, ‘This might be a good outfit to tie up with’,” Walsh said in a 2008 interview.
“I am not trying to pin medals on myself, but the people in the FBI. knew that I was very handy with firearms.”
FBI agents had only recently been permitted to carry weapons and were in desperate need of competent marksmen, so it was natural that Walsh ended up chasing some of the country’s most dangerous gangsters.
His duties saw him rise to prominence in J Edgar Hoover’s organisation – he had a key role in arresting Arthur ‘Doc’ Barker in Chicago – but he also got involved in several bloody gun battles, with Walsh killing several gangsters while on duty.
The biggest moment of his FBI career almost saw him get killed himself as he was shot in the chest and hand while working undercover to arrest James Dalhover, one of the most notorious members of the Brady Gang, in a 1937 gun battle in Maine that is one of the most famous in FBI history.
Walsh’s career was just getting warmed up, however: he enrolled in the US Marine Corps reserves in 1938, and entered active service as America entered the Second World War four years later, initially training snipers in North Carolina.
Despite his FBI injuries he requested to be sent into action, and served with distinction in the Pacific where, in one memorable incident, he saved his entire unit by taking out a sniper from almost 100m while armed with only a semi-automatic service revolver.
And despite rising to the rank of Colonel in the Marines, Walsh returned to the FBI after the war for a couple of years, but then returned to the Marines – and as he did so, he had more time to turn his remarkable weapon skills to competitive shooting.
Despite being in his 40s, he represented the USA for several years, taking part in the 1948 Olympic Games in London and winning two World Championship medals – individual silver and team gold – in Oslo in 1952.
He became the Marines’ commander of marksmanship training, a job he did until retirement in the 1970s, and after that became coach to the US Olympic shooting team – a role he held for 30 years.
Last year, he beat the record of gymnast Rudolf Schrader to become the world’s oldest surviving Olympian – a title he added to that of oldest surviving FBI agent.
Walsh, who would have been 107 on Sunday, out-lived wife Kathleen by 34 years, but is survived by five children, 17 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren.

(Eurosport)

(By Toby Keel)