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Faster, Higher, Longer: Cheers for These Older Olympic Athletes

Okay, we’ve ooohed and awed over the 17-year-old snowboarders and their peers. But how about the other end of the age spectrum? Who says world-class sports are only for adolescents...

Okay, we’ve ooohed and awed over the 17-year-old snowboarders and their peers. But how about the other end of the age spectrum? Who says world-class sports are only for adolescents or 20-something hard bodies?

Check out the oldest female Olympians at PyeongChang. Each earned a spot through exhausting training, years of experience, and their natural talents.  That – and, oh yes, improvements in sports medicine.

“It’s not a given anymore that you’d become weaker and slower with aging,” Robert Litchfield, a Canadian orthopedic surgeon who has operated on around 30 Olympic-level skiers, has noted. “You can maintain a lot of physical tools if you take good care of yourself. Plus, with age comes wisdom.”

Here, the amazing 40+ women rocking the Games:

Cheryl Bernard, 51 — Curling; Canada. (No jokes about curling not being a sport, please.)

Claudia Pechstein, 45 — Speed Skating; Germany.

NextTribe older Olympic athletes, female athletes over 40

Hanna-Riikka Valila, 44— Hockey; Finland.

NextTribe older Olympic athletes, female athletes over 40

Claudia Riegler (44) — Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom; Austria.

NextTribe older Olympic athletes, female athletes over 40

–Janet Siroto

Author

  • Jeannie Ralston, Founder NextTribe

    Jeannie Ralston is the co-founder and CEO of NextTribe. Before starting NextTribe, Ralston was a journalist (published in National Geographic, Life, The New York Times) and an award-winning travel writer. Her years growing lavender in rural Texas was the subject of her memoir, The Unlikely Lavender Queen, published by Broadway Books; her e-book, The Mother of All Field Trips, was about the three years she and her husband homeschooled and traveled with their sons. She is based in Asheville, NC.

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