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Final Olympic Dispatch: In Awe of Senior Athletes

Zest Towards Life on Display at National Senior Games

Text and Photo by Fred Minnick

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Never have I felt so out of shape as I did at the 2007 National Senior Games. I'm a former marathon runner, triathlete and football player who's kept in decent shape. But the Games' 12,000 athletes put me to shame. They ranged from age 50 to 100 and competed in 18 sports and over 800 events.

I saw men and women more than twice my age jump over bars, pole vault over 7 feet, spike volleyballs, bowl near-perfect games, run all over the tennis courts, swim faster than fish, triple jump and leap the distance of Shaquille O'Neal, release precision arrows in a bull's-eye, execute behind-the-back passes, and ride a bike up and down hills for an hour. And that's just the stuff I covered for the past 15 days!

While their athletic accomplishments were impressive and their biceps and abs were downright amazing, the Games' athletes really impressed me with zest toward life and desire to keep living as if they were 17. Like Marty Klayman, 69, who played in the racquetball competition's youngest division, the Men's 50-54 age group, because his doubles partner was only 53. Klayman didn't think about his opponents being younger and that certainly didn't stop him from slapping the ball in their faces in route to earn sixth place.

"I just love playing this game," he says. "And I'll play with anybody."

All the athletes shared Klayman's love for their respective sport. Each one I interviewed said they loved their event and want to stay active. Some of them persevered to reach this pinnacle competition, such as Flo Meiler, 73, and Liz Hogan, 50.

Meiler overcame severe food poisoning to compete and Hogan is four years recovered from a near-fatal car accident. Something else the two have in common: They both broke National Senior Games' records.

Hogan shattered the 200-meter Individual Medley record (2:42:40) with a time of 2:34:42, and Meiler pole vaulted 1.99 meters or 6.53 feet. Those records, while quite fantastic, pale in comparison to Phil Raschker's amazing Games' performance.

In addition to setting several Games' records, the nimble 60-year-old woman set a world masters record in the 400-meter dash in the women's 60-64 age division with a time of 1:06.69.

For the first time ever, we saw a perfect game in bowling at a Senior Games competition. On July 5, James Rock (age 55-59 bracket) lived up to his last name and acted like a "rock" under pressure, as he bowled a 300.

The Games' oldest athlete, John Donnelly, 100, competed in Table Tennis and won a gold medal in the 100 age category. I didn't catch Mr. Donnelly play; my only regret of my Games' coverage. But I did see Table Tennis athletes and for those of you who might thing it's just "ping pong," think again. Those guys move their torsos and arms like boxers. In fact, one of the more amazing athletes I observed was on the Table Tennis courts.

Jon Redman, 54, is handicapped and plays in his wheelchair. When his doubles partner swung for the ball, Redman ducked. "It's hard to get out of the way," Redman says. But like so many other people at these Games, Redman gets so much joy out of playing his sport that he won't let his disability stop him from playing.

The rest of our country could learn a thing or two from Redman and the rest of the Senior

Games' athletes. These amazing people teach us that although life may take something away and we continue to age, there's no reason to stop enjoying life. In a day and age where hospitals are filled with seniors who stopped caring and our children have replaced playing baseball on the playgrounds with videogames, the Senior Games' athletes have never stopped loving their sports. And while not all of them won or broke records or received much attention, they have something to be proud of. They have set examples for the rest of us out-of-shape people.

In fact, I just might take up a few sports I saw. I wonder if Flo Meiler will teach me how to pole vault.

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