THE Rio Olympics is a feast of fabulous entertainment as we watch competitors push their honed bodies and minds to the very limit. Usain Bolt, who has stayed at the top for three Olympics, perhaps epitomises the spirit of the games.
Bolt is a mere 29. Look down the lists and there are older athletes. Katherine Grainger won a silver in the double sculls at the age of 40. In the 10,000 metres, 42-year-old Jo Pavey ran in her fifth games, beating her Team GB rivals, who are 18 and 19 years her junior.
After the age of 40, athletic performance tends to drop by 10 to 15 per cent per decade. But if you鈥檙e nearing that watershed, or over it, don鈥檛 despair. The prowess of champion cyclist Robert Marchand has fallen by just 8 per cent per decade for 60 years (see 鈥�104-year-old cyclist named world鈥檚 greatest centenarian athlete鈥�). Marchand is 104.
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Think you can鈥檛 do it? You鈥檙e wrong: The limits of endurance are set not by the body but the brain.
Exercise is a wonder drug. It helps to protect us from heart attacks and strokes, diabetes, obesity, cancer and Alzheimer鈥檚. It maintains muscle mass, which is important as we get older, and even boosts memory. So, whether it鈥檚 a lap of a track, a walk round a park or a dance round your living room, live the Olympic dream. It might just save your life.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淟ive the Olympic dream鈥�
