Max Houben (5 May 1898 – 10 February 1949) was a Belgian versatile athlete who competed from the early 1920s until his death at the 1949 FIBT World Championships. He won a silver medal in the four-man

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobs ...

event at the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (; ; ; ) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948 (; ), were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the ...

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

, and was the oldest medalist at the Winter Olympics (48 years, 278 days) until

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Russ Howard Russell W. "Russ" Howard, CM, ONL (born February 19, 1956, in Midland, Ontario) is a Canadian curler and Olympic champion, based in Regina, Saskatchewan, but originally from Midland, Ontario. He lived in Moncton, New Brunswick, from 2000 t ...

won a gold medal in men's

curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics Curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics was held in the town of Pinerolo, Italy from February 13 to February 24. It proved to be the sleeper hit in terms of television ratings in Italy. According to a CBC feature, curling at the 2006 Winter G ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

(50 years, 7 days).

Athletics career

Houben was the national champion in the 100 m. He also made it to the quarterfinals of the 200 m event and the semifinals of the

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky i ...

at the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

. Houben later switched to

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobslei ...

, in which he competed at the

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

–

, becoming the first Belgian to take part in both Winter and Summer Olympics.

Bobsleigh career

At the Winter Olympics, Houben earned his best finish prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

of fifth in the four-man event at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Nazi Ger ...

. After the war, he earned two medals at the 1947 FIBT World Championships in St. Moritz with a silver in the four-man and a bronze in the two-man event. He won his only Olympic medal in the four-man event the following year, also in St. Moritz.

Other sports

Houben played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

for

Royale Union Saint-Gilloise Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (), also known as Union Saint-Gilloise, Union SG or simply Union, is a Belgian professional Football club (association football), football club from Brussels based in Forest, Belgium, Forest. Founded in 1897 in the ne ...

1923–1925 and 1926–1929. He also competed in the 24 hours of Francorchamps endurance race in

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

. He played for CS Verviétois in division one 1919–1923 and 1925–1926, division two in 1931–1936, for Racing CB in 1929–1931,

Union SG Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (), also known as Union Saint-Gilloise, Union SG or simply Union, is a Belgian professional football club from Brussels based in Forest. Founded in 1897 in the neighbouring Saint-Gilles, the club has played its home ...

1923–1925 and 1926–1929, and played 190 games and scored 40 goals.

Death

Houben died during a practice run at the 1949 FIBT World Championships in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. In 2020, its population was 2,205. The village of Lake Placid ...

, when his two-man sledge catapulted off of "shady" corner at the bobsleigh track. Houben was killed instantly, while his partner Jacques Mouvet survived with a broken skull and a serious back injury. The Belgian team withdrew as a result. Following the accident the community of Lake Placid donated a trophy to the FIBT to be presented to the two-man bobsleigh world champions and named it in honour of Houben.Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, Inc. congratulates USA on World Championship successes
bodynbobsled.com. March 3, 2012

References

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090127015546/http://sports123.com/bob/mw-2.html Bobsleigh two-man world championship medalists since 1931
Bobsleigh four-man world championship medalists since 1930

– accessed 29 July 2007 * – Accessed 29 July 2007. *Wallenchinsky, David. (1984). "Bobsled". In ''The Complete Book the Olympics: 1896–1980''. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 558–60. {{DEFAULTSORT:Houben, Max 1898 births 1949 deaths Belgian male sprinters Belgian male bobsledders Belgian men's footballers Belgian racing drivers Olympic athletes for Belgium Olympic bobsledders for Belgium Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Bobsledders at the 1928 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 1932 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 1936 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 1948 Winter Olympics Bobsledders who died while racing Sports deaths in New York (state) Olympic medalists in bobsleigh Medalists at the 1948 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Belgium Men's association football players not categorized by position Sportspeople from Verviers Footballers from Verviers Royale Union Saint-Gilloise players