Almost everyone knows the fastest man in the world: Usain Bolt has caused a worldwide sensation with his world record over the 100 meters in 9.58 seconds. Even today, this magic limit has remained unequaled and currently it does not seem that this would change quickly. But for records and considerable sporting achievements, you do not necessarily have to be an absolute top athlete. Even in old age you can keep yourself physically fit through many small exercises. In our series „Record-breaking – Best in old age“ we present some examples of extraordinary records in old age.
An almost unbelievable evidence of top performance in old age is the Indian Fauja Singh. When he was born, World War I was yet to come. Nevertheless, an incredible 100 years later, he is the first person of his age to complete a full marathon. 42.195 kilometers in just over eight hours is a quite impressive achievement that would succeed the least 20-year-olds. Nevertheless, the story has a bitter aftertaste: Since Singh has no birth certificate, the Guinness Book does not recognize his record. As a small consolation and to appreciate his unimaginable performance, he is now the owner of the British Empire Medal, which he was awarded for exceptional achievements in sports.
Another example of absolute top performances of elderly athletes in endurance sports is the Japanese Hiromu Inada. He discovered his passion for triathlon only at the age of 69 and despite his advanced age managed to complete the 1.5 kilometers swimming, 40 kilometers cycling and 10 kilometers running. But that was not enough for the ambitious Japanese. At the age of 77 he ventured into the supreme discipline of triathlon: the Ironman. Here is the athletes demanded an absolute top performance. 3.8 kilometers of swimming, 180 kilometers of cycling and 42.2 kilometers of running, which is the distance of a marathon, must be completed in this discipline. At the age of 79, Hiromu Inada overcomes this distance for the first time and manages to reach it again at the age of 83. He is the oldest athlete to complete the Ironman within the given time limit.
Oldest mountaineers on the highest mountain in the world
In 1953, Mount Everest was defeated for the first time. At that time, the Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and the New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary were the first two people at the highest point of the earth. To date, this feat was only a few extreme athletes worldwide. Yuichiro Miura and Tamae Watanabe are two of them. What’s special about these two, however, is that they are the two oldest people to have beaten the 8848 meters so far. Yuichiro Miura declared in 2013 the 8 km high peak and was then 80 years old. This makes him the oldest man to have succeeded to this day. Tamae Watanabe completed this feat a year earlier and holds the world record for the oldest woman to defeat Mount Everest at the age of 73.
