SYDNEY – A 99-year-old Australian great-grandmother is in training for the World Masters Games in Sydney, where she will turn heads as the oldest athlete.
Sprightly Ruth Frith, who is near-blind, will compete in five events at the seniors event in Sydney in October, by which time she will be 100.’Why is the focus on just because you’re going to be 100? I didn’t do anything to be 100. I just grew,’ she told public broadcaster ABC.’I just think life is living your own life and living it to the full.’Since turning 85, Frith, who says she doesn’t believe in diets and ‘all that jazz’, has held world records for her age group in the shotput, discus, javelin, hammer, long jump, triple jump and 100 metres.She achieved 10.90 metres in 2006 in the discus – the actual world record for women is 76.80 metres.Frith began competing in the quadrennial Masters Games aged 74 and will appear in Sydney alongside her daughter, former Olympic athlete Helen Searle.The most nerve-racking thing about the Masters used to be having to wear shorts, Frith said, pleading support for the elderly at the event.’If you ever see creaky knees and grey-haired people walking around an oval or trying to throw, please don’t laugh. Just wave and say ‘good on you,” she said.’They are only fulfilling a dream, a dream they may have had when they were children and could never carry it out, but now they have the chance.’- Nampa-AFP
Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for
only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!
