Bold in Beijing

Posted August 22, 2008, 3:45 pm in Sports


If they didn't know her before – the world knows Dara Torres now.  The 41-year-old swimming star and mom won hearts and gained new fans with her double-silver medal performance at the 2008 Beijing Games.  She did it all with a smile on her face, and a body that shows off the years of work she's put in.

But she's not the only bold athlete proving that you're never too old to live out your dreams.  Consider the performances of these sports stars in this year's Games:

• Equestrian Ian Millar anchored Canada in the team show jumping, securing a silver medal for the country.  Millar, at age 61, became the oldest Canadian to win an Olympic medal.  Beijing was his ninth Olympic appearance – he's now hoping to make the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, joined by his 33-year-old son Jonathan and 31-year-old daughter Amy.

• Hiroshi Hoketsu, 67, was the oldest competitor in Beijing. Representing Japan as a dressage rider, he finished 35th on Whisper in the individual competition and 10th in the team event.  He came out of a 44-year break to compete in the Beijing Olympics.  He was the oldest athlete in the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the oldest to ever compete for Japan.

• American Libby Callahan, a 56-year-old former police officer, finished 25th in the 25-meter pistol competition.  Callahan, a U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sergeant, has competed in four Olympics, and is considering taking a chance in 2012.  She retired from the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department in 2003, and now spends her free time sharpening her skills.

• Canadian fencer Luan Jujie, 50 years old and a mother of three, won her first round against Tunisian fences Ines Boubakri, but was then defeated by Hungarian Mohamed Aida.

• John Dane tried for 40 years to make the Olympic sailing team.  At age 58, he became the oldest American athlete to make it to Beijing.  Competing with his son-in-law, Dane won the U.S. Olympic trials. 

• Australian sailor Iain Murray qualified for his first Olympics at the age of 50.

• 57-year-old Canadian trap shooter Susan Nattrass was not able to advance, after missing five of her first 50 targets and finishing in 11th place.  The six-time Olympian told the Canwest News Service that she will consider taking part in the 2012 Olympics.

• Israeli marathon runner Haile Satayin, 53, was the oldest runner in the Beijing Olympics.  He almost didn't make the Olympics, because he was arrested in Ethiopia, while training for his event, but was later released.

• Archer Richard “Butch” Johnson, competed in his fifth consecutive Olympics at the age of 52.  He was eliminated in the second round of the archery tournament, after starting off with a perfect 10 in the first round. 

• Laurie Lever, 60, was a member of the Australian equestrian team in the hazardous sport of show jumping.   He was the oldest member of Australia's 2008 team, but did not make it to the podium. 

• Gymnast Oksana Chusovitina won a silver medal for Germany in the vault.  Chusovitina, 33, is a mother and was competing against girls half her age.  Her career has spanned two decades, starting when she won the USSR Junior Nationals in 1988.  She's the only female gymnast to compete in five Olympic Games, and holds the record for the most individual World Championships on a single event. 

• Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli is a cyclist for France and finished fourth in the Individual Time Trials.  Beijing was her eighth Olympic appearance – which means that many of the people she competed against were not even born when she appeared in her first Games!

• Debbie McDonald, 53, is a member of the American Equestrian Team.  USA finished fourth in the Team Final. 

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