When the Beijing Olympics come to an end on February 20, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach may have to change the tradition.
At the end of the Games, Bach is used to “inviting the youth of the whole world to come together in four years’ time”, but the invitation to the 2026 Winter Games, in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, in Italy, could also include older athletes who continue to be successful.
Starting with Frenchman Johan Clarey, who celebrated his 41st birthday last month and became the oldest man to win an Olympic medal in alpine skiing. He won silver in the downhill, which was his first medal in four Olympic Games.
“When you’re a medalist, it doesn’t matter if you’re 20 or 41,” Clarey insisted.
Clarey got the better of Nick Baumgartner. Beijing, the 40-year-old American won his first Olympic medal when he and Lindsey Jacobellis triumphed in the mixed team snowboard cross event.
“It’s never too late to take what you want in life,” Baumgartner said. You let yourself down if you give up too soon, no matter how old you are. »
Baumgartner, a concrete contractor in Michigan, is the oldest snowboarder to win an Olympic medal.
At 36, Jacobellis is far from a green rookie. She won two gold medals, one with Baumgartner and the other in the women’s snowboard cross event.
She became the oldest American to win a gold medal at the Winter Games. She is also the second oldest of any nation behind Baumgartner to win a medal in snowboarding.
Jacobellis also won a silver medal at the Turin Games in 2006. The 16-year gap between two medals is the largest for an American at the Winter Games.
Olympic historian Bill Mallon counted at least 10 athletes born in 1970s Beijing, meaning they are well into their 40s.
The oldest speed skater, Claudia Pechstein, is nearing the end of her 40s. She will celebrate her 50th birthday only two days after the end of the Olympics. Beijing, she became the oldest woman to participate in the Winter Games.
The German who is nicknamed “grandmother” has won the gold medal five times and has won nine Olympic medals in her career. She won’t add one to her collection in Beijing, but it doesn’t matter.
“Every day it’s harder to motivate yourself, especially when you’re not feeling so good and the results aren’t coming,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. But I’m still proud of myself. I can still compete with the youngest girls in the world. »
