I’ve noticed something that I’m now calling a pattern. We’re hearing more and more about older athletes competing at the top of their game.
Tom Brady made a splash earlier this year, winning the Super Bowl at the age of 43. Remarkable.
Then, just days ago, Phil Mickelson became the oldest player to ever win a major, taking down the PGA Championship.
And I keep seeing mentions of Simone Biles doing what’s considered to be some crazy shit by any gymnast’s standards. Apparently, they’ve been changing the rules because she’s doing stuff literally nobody else can pull off.
kinda insane that not only is simone biles doing things other women don’t attempt she’s doing them at 24 in a sport full of 16yos
— stephanie (@isosteph) May 25, 2021
Simone is 24-years-old. Young, right? But consider…
“The average age of an international gymnast was 18.10 years in 2005. In contrast, in 1994, before the new age requirements, it was 16.49, and in 1989, gymnasts who had reached the age of 17 were already often considered to be of retirement age.”
Sourced via Wikipedia
Imagine being 33% older than your average competitor and wiping the floor with them. Incredible.
The question, in my mind, is whether these are unique events.
I don’t follow enough sports to know that answer, but the golf article I linked to earlier gives some clues.
“Jack Nicklaus was 58 when he contended deep into Sunday at the 1998 Masters. Tom Watson was 59 when he nearly won the 2009 Open Championship. Fred Couples was 52 when he led after round two of the 2012 Masters. None of them won, but it showed what was possible.”
And…
“Mickelson becomes the eighth player to win on the PGA TOUR after turning 50…”
In Michelson’s case it doesn’t seem CRAZY (not to take anything away from his accomplishment). But it does seem clear that we’re seeing more signal around age and top performers. And the more this happens, the more these exceptions stop being exceptions. Eventually, what’s viewed as the ceiling for an athlete’s prime will move increasingly higher.
When other, “older” golfers see Phil still competing at his best they’ll start asking “why can’t I?”.
When middle and high-school age kids see Simone competing better than the world’s finest but much older than them they’ll start asking “why not me?”.
The same goes for Tom Brady and hopefully many more star athletes in other sports.
I hope we start to see these “exceptions” become increasingly normalized so when we start talking about living to 150 and older people think “why not?”.