Beijing-bound athletes Jeannie Longo, Haile Satayin, Hiroshi Hoketsu, Dara Torres, James Tomkins, Susan Nattrass and now Laurie Lever have shown getting older.
Laurie Lever, a 60-year-old show jumper, will make his debut following his inclusion in Australia’s equestrian team. However, he is not the only ageless wonder going to Beijing
Beijing-bound athletes Jeannie Longo, Haile Satayin, Hiroshi Hoketsu, Dara Torres, James Tomkins, Susan Nattrass and now Laurie Lever have shown getting older does not rule out Olympic participation at the highest level.
French cyclist Longo, Ethiopian-born Israeli Satayin, who runs in the marathon, Japanese equestrian ace Hoketsu, American swimmer Torres, Australian rower Tomkins and Canadian shooter Nattrass will be among the more senior athletes at Beijing.
Veteran Australia rower Tomkins at the age of 42 is going for his fourth gold medal. Having earned gold in 1992 and 1996 in the coxless fours, and with Drew Ginn in the coxless pairs in 2004, Tomkins is in Beijing trying his hand at the eights which would round off a remarkable career which has also seen him collect seven world titles and overcome a heart defect.
American swimmer Dara Torres has reached her fifth Olympic team 24 years after winning gold in Los Angeles. Torres, 41, and the mother of a two-year-old daughter, has completed another comeback in the wake of the one she pulled off in 2000, when she came out of retirement and won two relay golds and three individual bronze medals.
Longo clinched a place to compete in her seventh Olympics at the age of 49. The five-time world champion staked her claim with an outstanding win in both the road race and time-trial at the French National Championships in June. The 1996 Olympic road race champion has competed in every Games since women’s cycling was first introduced.
Her dedication and commitment is legendary and no doubt she owes her longevity to both of those qualities. Satayin, who emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel, will be among the oldest competitors aged 49, though his passport says he’s older.
The patience required for top long distance running was shown by Satayin in Athens when, as world class athletes started slowing or dropping out, he was moving up the field. Satayin’s loping stride looks languid but, like a cheetah, he makes fast running look deceptively easy.
Dubbing himself the “hope of old men,” Japanese equestrian ace Hiroshi Hoketsu is ready to show he has improved with age when he trots out to his second Olympics in 44 years. At the age of 67 years and four months in August, he will be the oldest Japanese ever to compete in the Olympics and one of the most senior athletes at Beijing.
Hoketsu, who placed 40th in show jumping at the Tokyo Olympics, said: “I believe I can finish in a more respectable position.”
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