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Centenarian athletes: Examples of ultimate human performance?
- Source :
- Age and Ageing, Age and Ageing, Oxford University Press (OUP), 2016, 45 (5), pp.729-733. ⟨10.1093/ageing/afw111⟩, Age and Ageing, Oxford University Press (OUP), 2016, 45 (5), pp.729-733. 〈http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/45/5/729.abstract〉. 〈10.1093/ageing/afw111〉
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- HAL CCSD, 2016.
-
Abstract
- International audience; Background: some centenarians are engaged in regular physical activity and sometimes in sporting events.Objective: we aimed to identify world records of centenarian athletes in several sports and determine which represented the best performance when compared to all-age world records, all disciplines taken together.Methods: all of the best performances achieved by centenarians were identified and compared in three disciplines: athletics, swimming and cycling. The performances were considered as an average of the respective speeds, except for jumping and throwing events for which the maximum distances performed were considered. Within each discipline, the decline in performance of centenarian athletes was expressed as a percentage of the world record for that discipline. In total, 60 performances of centenarian athletes were found. These performances belong to 19 individuals: 10 in athletics, 8 in swimming and 1 in cycling.Results: the centenarian world record performed by Robert Marchand in one hour track cycling appears to be the best performance (-50.6% compared with the all-age world record in this discipline) achieved by a centenarian.Conclusions: although the physiological characteristics of Robert Marchand are certainly exceptional, his remarkable performance could also be due to the lower age-related decline for cycling performances compared with running and swimming. Our observations offer new perspectives on how the human body can resist the deleterious effects of ageing.
- Subjects :
- Male
Gerontology
Aging
medicine.medical_specialty
Physical activity
[ SDV.MHEP.GEG ] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Geriatry and gerontology
Athletic Performance
medicine.disease_cause
centenarian
decline
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Jumping
Physical medicine and rehabilitation
master athletes
sporting performance
medicine
Humans
Aged, 80 and over
biology
Athletes
[SDV.MHEP.GEG]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Geriatry and gerontology
Track and Field
Age Factors
health
030229 sport sciences
General Medicine
biology.organism_classification
Bicycling
ageing
Female
Geriatrics and Gerontology
Centenarian
Psychology
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Throwing
Sports
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00020729 and 14682834
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Age and Ageing, Age and Ageing, Oxford University Press (OUP), 2016, 45 (5), pp.729-733. ⟨10.1093/ageing/afw111⟩, Age and Ageing, Oxford University Press (OUP), 2016, 45 (5), pp.729-733. 〈http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/45/5/729.abstract〉. 〈10.1093/ageing/afw111〉
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....d834dc2cf2023d2bf85429517d69634e