His age at Grenoble in 1968, when he finally won Olympic gold. Two of them, in the same Games, twelve years after his first Olympic silver.
The driver
Eugenio Monti was born in Dobbiaco in 1928 and grew up in Cortina d'Ampezzo. He began as an alpine skier and was Italian champion in giant slalom and downhill before a knee injury in 1951 ended that career.
He moved to bobsleigh and became the dominant driver of his generation, with ten world championship titles between 1957 and 1966.
Innsbruck, 1964
In the two-man event the British sled of Tony Nash and Robin Dixon broke a bolt on the rear axle after their first run.
Monti, leading, removed the corresponding bolt from his own sled and had it sent up to them.
Nash and Dixon completed the second run and won the gold. Monti took bronze.
In the four-man event of the same Games he lent mechanics to the Canadian crew of Vic Emery, who also won gold.
The De Coubertin medal
The International Fair Play Committee created the Pierre de Coubertin medal and awarded the first one to Monti.
It remains among the rarest distinctions in sport.
What he actually said
Asked whether he had given away a gold medal, Monti's answer was consistently that Nash won because his run was fastest, not because of the bolt.
He did not accept the framing of sacrifice, and never traded on the story.
Grenoble, 1968
At forty he won the two-man with Luciano De Paolis, and then the four-man, where Italy and West Germany finished on identical aggregate times and the title went to Italy on the fastest single heat.
He retired immediately afterwards.
After
Monti worked as a team manager and later as director of the Cortina bobsleigh track. He suffered from Parkinson's disease and died in 2003.
Why it goes on a wall
Because the gesture is usually told as generosity, and he told it as accuracy. He believed the fastest sled should win and acted on it while leading. Those are two different kinds of person, and the second one is rarer.
Monti's bolt.