Four ageless Olympians eyeing Paris 2024
If equestrians Mary Hanna, Abdelkebir Ouaddar, Phillip Dutton or sport shooter Nino Salukvadze qualify for Paris 2024 they will be 69, 61, 60 and 55, respectively, but age is just a number as they begin the journey toward what they hope will be another Olympic Games appearance.
How do you picture yourself aged 61? Standing on Copacabana beach, wearing the colours of your nation to the backdrop of the famous, blue-hazed mountains of Rio de Janeiro and about to take part in your fifth Olympic Summer Games?
How about, aged 66, having your face displayed on one of the world’s most iconic buildings – the Sydney Opera House – in recognition of your contribution to your country’s performance at Tokyo 2020, and having achieved a personal milestone of a sixth Olympic Games?
Not for most of us, yet this is what Australian equestrian, Mary Hanna, the oldest athlete of any sport at Tokyo 2020, has achieved so far, and she’s not done yet.
Come July 2024, Hanna plans to swap Japan’s Baji Koen equestrian park for the Palace of Versailles when the Olympic Summer Games heads to Paris and her sport takes up residence at the iconic gilded venue.
The Olympic qualification process is already off the mark with Australia beginning to ratchet up their tally of quota spots but, as the experienced Hanna knows, anything can happen between now and the team being picked.
Beijing 2008 was the only Games Hanna missed since her debut at Atlanta 1996 – due to an injury to her horse – and her best result so far was sixth in team dressage at her home Olympics at Sydney 2000.
"There is no other experience like it,” said Hanna of her love of competing at the Games. “It is highly addictive. It's just that pride and representing your country."
If Hanna does manage to make the team for Paris 2024, she still won’t overtake the current oldest female Olympian – another equestrian, Lorna Johnstone of Great Britain who competed at Munich 1972 at 70 years and five days. Hanna will be a spritely 69 and seven months should she compete in Versailles on 27 July 2024.
The oldest ever Olympian was Oscar Swahn who was 72 when he competed at his last ever Olympic Games at Antwerp 1920. The Swede won two shooting gold medals at London 1908 and another gold in Stockholm 1912 but finished fourth in another event behind his son. Hanna will have to eye Los Angeles 2028 to achieve that accolade, but one step at a time.
“Young or old, it doesn't make a difference," she said in 2021. "If you're fit and healthy, you can just keep going. Unless my body really breaks down, I'm certainly aiming for [the 2024 Olympic Games in] Paris. I think it's getting a little bit late to aim for a gold medal - but I'm not giving up."
Pride before a fall
Physical injury is a concern like any other athlete, but there’s an additional concern too: pride.
Fellow Oz-born equestrian Phillip Dutton, 59, is eyeing an eighth Games come Paris but the three-time Olympic medallist wants to remain competitive.
Dutton, who debuted alongside Hanna at Atlanta 1996, claimed two gold medals for Australia before going on to compete for the USA from Beijing 2008 onwards, claiming bronze at Rio 2016 in the individual three-day event.
“I’d like to go for as long as I can but I also don’t want to be stupid about it," he said. "I don’t see a retirement date at this stage. As long as I’m not embarrassing me or the family, I think I can keep going for a while.”
Family ties
I see your eight appearances and raise you nine, presumably says legendary Georgian shooter Nino Salukvadze should see ever meet Dutton.
The only woman in history to compete in nine Olympic Games, the 54-year-old six-time world champion and three-time Olympic medallist added another noteworthy first to her tally when she and son Tsotne Machavariani were the first mother and son to compete in the same Olympics. Both represented Georgia in the pistol event at Rio 2016.
“Competing in nine Olympic Games is very difficult,” Salukvadze told Olympics.com, “because age is age and my eyes are not good.”
Nevertheless, she continues to inspire many, including her son.
“Whenever we are driving or going somewhere everyone is like hey Nino, congratulations, you’re our hero and it really makes me so proud,” said Machavariani.
His mum decided to quit after Tokyo but put that decision on hold after a phone call from her son, telling Reuters days after her tournament finished in Japan: "The whole time we were talking, he kept saying, 'This is out of the question. There are three years left. You can go for your tenth Olympics, you have a chance. Why not take it? If you quit, I will quit too!' And I don’t want him to quit."
If she does make it to Paris, Salukvadze will equal Canadian equestrian jumper Ian Millar's stand-alone record of 10 Olympic appearances but her son will have to convince her to go for it first.
Royal welcome
Moroccan equestrian Abdelkebir Ouaddar, 59, should feel right at home at the Palace of Versailles should he make it to a third Olympic Games in a row. The flag bearer for his nation at the Rio 2016 opening ceremony was adopted by the Moroccan royal family with whom he learned to ride.
The family helped him get over an initial fear of horses and nurtured his burgeoning talent. A talent that helped him reach the pinnacle of his sport.
When asked by Olympics.com ahead of Rio 2016, ‘If you could be somebody else, who would you be?’ Ouaddar replied: “I would just be myself because I live a magical and magnificent story.”
That story could be set to continue in under a year and a half's time.
There’s 17-months to go before the Games begin on Friday 26 July 2024, and whatever an athletes’ age, there’s a rollercoaster to ride before achieving the accolade of Olympian. But for these elders, they’ve experienced the ultimate experience in their sport multiple times, and they just want more.
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 runs from 26 July to 11 August with the Paralympic Games taking place from 28 August to 8 September.
