99-Year-Old Swimmer Breaks World Record
Swimming is a challenging sport, and we expect athletes who shatter world records to be in peak physical form.
Michael Phelps, Adam Peaty, Ryan Lochte — such are the names that sprint to mind when we consider top-tier swimmers.
George Corones is (to put it mildly) not the sort of swimmer you’d think would make the record books. See, Corones took quite a while to break into his swimming career.
“How long?” you may ask. Well, the 99-year-old Brisbane, Australia, resident hadn’t paddled in any body of water bigger than a bathtub when he started dabbling in the sport at age 80.
“He took up swimming when he was 80,” his son, Harry Corones, explained to the BBC. But even though Corones came late to swimming, it didn’t dampen his ambition.
“It just came naturally at 80 and I’ve been doing it for 20 years now,” George said.
“He swims in the Master’s swimming competition, and he was now moving into the age bracket of the 100 to 104 group, and he was aware there were some records there in the freestyle event,” his son said.
“So we spoke to Swimming Australia who were having some time trials here … and they kindly allowed him to do the time in a properly measured and metered pool.”
On March 2, Corones decided to see if he could beat the speed record for his age group in the 50-meter freestyle. What he actually ended up doing defied every expectation.
The soon-to-be centenarian hurled himself into the water with such vim and vigor that he reached the end of the pool in a mere 56.12 seconds.
That broke the standing record by — are you ready for it? — an astonishing 35 seconds.
“It was an exemplary swim for me, well balanced,” he said afterward.
“At this age it takes a while to get going… you get exhausted much more easily, but if you do it sensibly, the rewards are astronomical.”
Not satisfied with breaking that single record, Corones decided to try his hand at the 100-meter freestyle the next night. He also beat it, this time by a whole minute.
His son attributes Corones’ success to his nonstop physical-training regime.
In addition to swimming three days a week, Corones also goes to the gym, walks, and stretches regularly.
“I’m 70,” Harry Coronoes said. “I’ve observed what he’s done, and I’ve realized that, if I want quality of life when I’m 90 or 100, then I’d better start doing something about it now.”
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