Whatever else one may think of it the Beijing Olympics should give all aging athletes inspiration (hat tip www.goDuke.com ) :
08/11/2008 - Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) - Dara Torres welcomes drug testing. So does John Dane III.
Just don't test him for one substance.
"If Advil were a banned substance, I would be in trouble," he said.
At 58, the sailor is the oldest U.S. Olympian in Beijing and the oldest the country has had in more than 50 years. After 40 years of trying to make the U.S. team, the New Orleans native is an Olympics rookie.
It's an appropriate time. This gathering could be dubbed the Geriatric Games.
The U.S. team has five competitors 50 or older, including shooter Libby Callahan, the oldest U.S. female Olympian ever. There are 17 others 40 or older, including Torres, 41, the American swimmer who has gotten the lion's share of publicity for the veteran set.
But Torres is a youngster compared to Dane. Then again, Dane is rather green compared to Hiroshi Hoketsu, 67, a Japanese dressage rider who has referred to himself as "the hope of old men."
Hoketsu, who has a graduate degree in economics from Duke, is returning to the Olympics after making his first appearance at the 1964 Tokyo Games. Dane would love to meet Hoketsu, five years shy of Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who won a silver medal in 1920, for oldest Olympian ever.
"He'd probably call me a young whippersnapper," Dane said.
Two others could say the same to Dane. Canadian equestrian Ian Millar is 61 and Australian equestrian Laurie Lever is 60.
Callahan isn't even the oldest woman at the Games. That would be Canadian trap shooter Susan Nattrass, 57.
...
While it's obviously easier to have longevity in sports such as sailing, shooting and equestrian, there is some cheating going in more rigorous pursuits.
No, not cheating as in doping. Cheating the calendar.
Israeli marathon runner Seteng Ayele is 53. French cyclist Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli is 49.
U.S. pole vaulter Jeff Hartwig is 40. And Torres, in her fifth Olympics, is the oldest swimmer ever to qualify for the Games.
OK, OK, maybe the competitors in their early 40's don't qualify.
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