Still looking good after all these years
@Sandra1952 (6047)
Spain
August 5, 2012 1:15am CST
I'm pretty much glued to the television during the Olympics, and I like watching the round up programme at the end of each day, which highlights the best performances and the news, as swell as previewing the following day's action.
The other good thing about the programme is that they bring in former Olympians for their comments on the proceedings. Last night they had Mary Peters, who won the Pentathlon at the Munich Olympics (1972), and Lynn Davies, the Long Jump medalist in Tokyo (1964).
Both are now in their seventies, yet they're still fit and trim, and looked as if they could give today's athletes a good run for their money. Obviously they didn't let their fitness slide when they retired from athletics. Can you think of any veteran Olympians who are still looking really good?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@Sportseconomics (162)
• United States
5 Aug 12
I can understand you being so glued to the Olympics. They only happen once every 4 years, after all. The best from all around the world compete against each other on the biggest stage.
However, I must say that I have had a different experience with the Olympics being shown on television in my country, the USA. Where I live, we are 8 hours behind London time. When we see the primetime program starting at 8 pm, sometimes the events they are showing happened 13 hours ago. Meanwhile, the news on the *very same channel* (NBC) is telling us all the results of the most important events, which are inevitably saved to be shown in the primetime segment. With this setup, it basically makes it so I am forced to not watch any TV, not listen to the radio, and not look at any sporting news whatsoever until I watch the primetime telecast.
Unfortunately, NBC defends this decision by showing that their TV ratings are the highest in history. I would just like to be able to watch it live on TV so I wouldn't have to worry so much about finding out the results before I have seen it happen myself.
With regards to your question, I noticed that there is a veteran Olympian who is, in fact, still competing in the Olympics at 71 years of age! Of course, he's not doing boxing, but even competing in Dressage in Equestrian is still pretty impressive (as he did). I got quite a laugh when he was asked about possibly competing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro and he replied that he was concerned about age. Apparently, he meant the age of the horse!
1 person likes this
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
5 Aug 12
That's awful for you, because it's just not the same watching when you know the result. I tend to forget that when I'm talking to friends in different time zones, and a couple of times, people have shut me up when I was getting excited about our British successes.
That's interesting about the rider. I looked him up, and found out his first Olympics was in Tokyo in 1968. He seems a really interesting guy, and I smiled when I read about the horse and the age thing. It just goes to show it's good to keep fit - he doesn't look anywhere near 71. Here's the story:
: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/02/london-2012-oldest-hiroshi-hoketsu?newsfeed=true :
@ram_cv (16513)
• India
5 Aug 12
Usually great athletes preserve themselves pretty well and age more gracefully than those of us who are generally unfit. I know of a lot of athletes here in India who look great even during their old age. The Flying Sikh Milkha Singh was one example. So also cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar.
Cheers!
Ram
