The ageing game: Could we all be 95-year-old athletes?
LONDON. KAZINFORM People in rich countries are getting older. But is a longer life always a better life? In the first of a series about the ageing population, Smitha Mundasad looks at whether we can influence the rate at which we age.
At 95 years old, Olga Kotelko could be forgiven for sitting on the sidelines as people 60 years her junior jump over poles and hurl javelins into the distance. But this sprightly 5ft-tall Canadian joins in - in a big way, BBC News reports. This year she became the oldest recorded female indoor sprinter, high jumper, long jumper and triple jumper at the World Masters Athletics Championships. Olga now has more than 30 world records to her name and has won more than 750 gold medals. But she says she sees herself as nothing special, describing herself "as just a plain Jane". Olga took to the athletics track at the age of 77. As one of 11 siblings brought up on a farm, she has always been active - there were always cows to milk and chores to be done. She has now outlived all her siblings and most of her friends but when asked what her secret is, she says there isn't one. "I think your age is just a number. It's not your birthday, it's how you age which makes the difference. "It's your attitude to all the things that happen in your life that plays the biggest part." Read more here