So, you might then be forgiven for thinking that youthful athleticism is the key to success. Think again. At
Sochi 2014
we have witnessed some remarkable performances from the so called
‘veterans’, the wily old competitors who just refuse to bow out
gracefully and let the youngster take centre stage. We pay tribute to
the ‘thirty-somethings’… and indeed the ‘forty-somethings’, who have won
medals and broken records at Sochi 2014.
By his own gilt-edged standards, Sochi 2014 will not go down as the American Alpine legend’s greatest ever
Games. However
Bode Miller's fifth appearance on the Winter Olympic stage did produce a notable new landmark.
At 36, he set a new Olympic record as the oldest Alpine skier to win a medal when
he claimed bronze in the super-G on 16 February, taking his overall tally to six. Asked what he thought about joining Alpine greats
Hermann Maier and Kjetil Andre Aamodt as multiple medallists in
super-G, Miller said simply: “It means I'm old!” However, by comparison to some of his fellow
Olympians he is still a youngster…
Albert Demchenko, 42, and Armin Zöggeler, 40 (men’s luge)
The 42-year old
luge veteran did not disappoint an expectant home crowd, when on his record
seventh appearance at the Winter Games – 22 years after his first – he
raced to silver in the men’s individual luge, and then
doubled his tally in the doubles. And if it wasn’t for the fact that he faced wunderkind
Felix Loch, arguably the best luger the world has ever seen, the colour of his medal at Sochi 2014 might well have been gold.
Meanwhile,
Italy’s
Armin Zöggeler, a relative whippersnapper at just 40,
took his personal medal tally to six in Sochi, finishing just behind Demchenko in the
men’s individual event to win bronze. In doing so, “
Il Cannibale” became the first Olympian in history to win six medals at six consecutive editions of the Games, Winter or Summer.
Noriaki Kasai, 41 (men’s ski jump)
Last but, but by no means least, comes Japan’s indomitable ski jumper
Noriaki Kasai who, like Demchenko has been a regular fixture at the Winter Games stretching back to
Albertville 1992, and is the only other athlete to appear in seven editions.
Two years later he won silver at
Lillehammer… and then another 20 years after that he
repeated the same feat in Sochi, in the men’s large hill
on 15 February – the largest ever gap between two Olympic medals -
where a phenomenal penultimate leap left him just 1.3 points short of
becoming the oldest ever Winter Olympic champion.
And Kasai
shows no sign of wanting to quit just yet. “Being in the Olympics means being the best in the world and this makes me want to continue. I feel 32,” he says.
PyeongChang beckons…
Alla Tsuper, 34 (women’s aerials)
The Belarusian freestyler provided one of the most poignant moments
of the 2014 Winter Games, and an object lesson in perseverance and
endeavour. When
she took gold in the women’s aerials on 14 February, it brought to an end a 16-year quest for an Olympic medal. Having first competed as a teenager in
Nagano in 1998, and then again in
2002,
2006 and
2010,
where she finished fifth. Tsuper then took two years out to focus on
her new role as a mother. Convinced to return to competition she arrived
in Sochi, ranked 13th in the world, more than expectation… crept into
the final by the skin of her teeth, and then blew the competition away
with the performance of her career.
And she revealed her secret was to pretend she was doing it all for
the first time: “This year, I decided to treat Sochi as if it was my
debut appearance at the Games. And to worked: I wasn’t nervous at all!”
Winston Watts, 46 (men’s bobsleigh)
The Jamaican
bobsleigh
pilot Winston Watts may not have won a medal in Sochi or even come
anywhere close to the podium, but at 46 – that’s three times the age of
15-year-old Russian ice dance princess Julia Lipnitskaia – the
Jamaican offers a template for endurance, commitment and passion that form core components in the DNA of any true Olympian.
Watts, who is taking part in his fourth Winter Games in Sochi and who
describes himself as “old as dirt”, is mindful of his role in creating
an enduring legacy as he gets ready to hand the bobsleigh baton to a new
generation whom he and brakeman Marvin Dixon have helped inspire.
“Our main goal towards the next Olympics is to have young pilots,
get younger athletes to portray their dream
to go forward to the Olympics in Republic of Korea in 2018,” says
Watts. “I'm still going to continue for maybe a year or two and just
give it up to younger people so they can bring the legacy on.”
Teemu Selanne, 43 (men’s ice hockey)
Finnish
ice hockey veteran Teemu Selanne set a new
all-time Olympic points record when he scored in
his team's quarter-final victory over the hosts, and having guided the Finns into the semi finals, he is not done yet.
Selanne made his Olympic debut in Albertville back in 1992 and has
now competed at six editions of the Olympic Winter Games. “I'm 43, and I
play on the same line as guys who are 19 and 20-something,” he says.
“It's a good thing. Obviously they're just numbers. Mentally, I think we
are the same age. “Obviously I'm very proud that I've been able to play
for so many years, and the passion for the game is the biggest reason I
can still play. Of course it's not getting any easier at this age. But
I'm still trying to play my best level and help the team,” he adds.
“Knowing it's going to be my last Olympics, it's a good thing, you
can really enjoy it. You see things differently, and just enjoy it," he
adds.
Hanna-Riikka Valila, 40 (women’s ice hockey)
Selanne’s compatriot and fellow forty-something, not to mention
mother-of-three, Hanna-Riikka Valila returned to compete at the top
level in her sport in 2013 after an entire decade away.
Her natural talent, bolstered by sheer hard work, meant that she was soon reselected for
the Finnish team for Sochi 2014.
“I
was a little reluctant to return at first. After all, I'm old enough to
be the mother of many of my team-mates," she says. “But I enjoy
playing with these younger girls, they keep me feeling younger.”
Ole-Einar Bjørndalen, 40 (biathlon)
Last, and definitely not least, we come to the man who, at the age of 40, has just
rewritten Olympic history. On 19 February, Norwegian biathlon legend,
Ole-Einar Bjørndalen
won his 13th medal at the Winter Games, surpassing the previous
benchmark set by his compatriot Bjorn Daehlie, to become, officially,
the most successful Winter Olympian of all time.
The colour of his record-breaking medal was, fittingly, gold, as he spearheaded
Norway
to gold in the first ever mixed team relay. Not bad for an old man, for
whom age has become nothing more than a number. “Life,” he says, “is
too short to give up. You always need to keep going on.”
That is a motto that could easily apply to all of the ‘veterans’ who
have played such a big part in making Sochi 2014, and indeed the Winter
Games through the ages, such a special occasion.
