Let the Games Begin!

Posted December 31, 1969, 7:00 pm by Growing Bolder Staff


The Summer Olympics conjure images of heart-pounding track and field events, record-smashing heats in the pool and the Dream Team hitting the hardwood floors in front of screaming basketball fans.

Instead of Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps or Allen Iverson, this summer's top medal contenders are Charles Stanley Modlin, Joe Vicars and Lydia Woods. And, oh yeah, they are 82, 66 and 53 years old, respectively.

The biennial Senior Olympics wrapped up in early July in Louisville, Kentucky. The games drew 12,000 athletes from around the world who are 50 and better.

For 16 days, the athletes battled to bring home the gold in events like triathlon, volleyball and cycling. These are not your grandparents' games. These active-living folks are breaking world records left and right and redefining what it means to compete athletically after the age of 50.
These Olympians could give the competitors in Beijing a run for their money next summer.

This year's oldest athlete is John Donnelly of Sun City Center, Florida. This was the fourth Senior Games for the 100-year-old table tennis player, and he's no stranger to the medal stand; he won gold in his three previous games.

As the games were kicking off, two of the top competitors talked to Growing Bolder about what it's like to compete against athletes from around the world and how each of them discovered their inner Olympian.

Dr. George Schmidt is a widely respected optometric physician and world-record holding swimmer. And Dave Zarco, who has been described as a walking billboard for badminton, is one of the sport's most well-known players. He even helps NBC out during its coverage of badminton during the Summer Olympics.

For much more information about the games, including results for Dave and George's events, click here.


© 2007-2008. The Growing Bolder Media Group. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.