2009's Best Athletic Competition

You Might Not Know the Names of the World's Best Athletes!

2009's Best Athletic Competition

Most people who don't live in or around Palo Alto California missed this year's best athletic competition. It happened on the campus of Stanford University but it wasn't a Stanford-Cal football game and it wasn't Stanford's always powerful baseball team burying the competition. In fact, it didn't even make national news.

There were no big names, unless Adolph Hoffman, Sarah Overton, James Kales, and Roger Gentilhomme ring a bell. Well, that's not quite true: former NFL quarterback Steve Young was there—to cheer on the real heroes.

These heroes were the participants in the 2009 Senior Games. There in Palo Alto, athletes over the age of 50 from all over the United States came together for a week of inspiring competition in track and field events, racquetball, basketball, tennis, volleyball, swimming, water polo, soccer, and about a dozen other sports.

Competitions take place by age groups in steps of five years (50+, 55+, 60+, etc.) by gender. One might think that the competition would be dominated by barely-50 year olds and former Olympic athletes; not so. The truly amazing stories come from the Women's Over 75 Hammer Throw (!), the Over 90 Triple Jump, the Men's Over 60 400 meter dash, and the Men's Over 95 Discus Throw. While the amazing records could fill pages, consider Amy Hicks' hammer throw of over 20 meters... Amy is 76 years old. Or how about just the mere sight of an 87 year old pole vaulting?

This year's biggest inspiration came from Roger Gentilhomme, who participated at age 100. Roger tries to play tennis every day, and expects to be back at the next Senior Games, competing against the youngsters in the 90-year-old class in 2011.

While Gentilhomme was the oldest athlete, hundreds of others inspired those of us who turned out to watch. I was amazed at 70 year olds running the 400 meter dash, 75 year olds throwing elbows in the paint on the basketball court, 70 year old women triple jumping further than I can, and men in their 70s still playing softball. I was left with one thought: "You've got no excuses now."