Lydia Wideman

Photo: Suomen Urheilumuseo — Public domainSource

Lydia Wideman

cross-country skier

Born
May 17, 1920
Died
April 13, 2019
Age
98 years

About Lydia Wideman

Lydia Wideman was a cross-country skier. Born in 1920, Wideman died in 2019 at the age of 98.

Explore other notable deaths in 2019 or deaths in April 2019.

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Full Biography

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Lydia Wideman (later Wideman-Lehtonen, 17 May 1920 – 13 April 2019) was a cross-country skier from Finland and the first female Olympic medalist in cross-country skiing. In 1952 she competed in thirteen 10 km races and won all of them, including the 1952 Winter Olympics, national championships and Lahti Ski Games.

Wideman and her twin sister Tyyne were born in a family of ten siblings. Many members of her family were skilled cross-country skiers. In particular, Tyyne won the national 10 km title in 1949–1951, beating Lydia in 1951, but retiring the same year.

In February 2018, following the death of Durward Knowles, she became the oldest living Olympic champion. She died on 13 April 2019, aged 98.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

Content from Wikipedia — licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

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Sources

People who died on April 13

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