Older Athletes Still Got Game
If you've hit retirement age and are starting to feel your years, you're far from alone. The number of people age 65 and older around the world hit 506 million last year. And it's expected to nearly double by 2040.
Aging can be unforgiving truth for us all. But lately, a growing number of sports figures seem determined to defy nature's rulebook, as CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reports.
It might be the golden age of the aging athlete. On the same day that 81-year-old Hershel McGriff became the oldest driver ever to run a NASCAR race - finishing a respectable 13th of 26 - golfer Tom Watson almost won the British Open at 59, 30 years past what we thought was his prime.
At the grueling Tour de France, 37-year-old Lance Armstrong is in 2nd place after sitting out nearly four years.
Armstrong's inspiration was Constantina Tomescu Dita, who won last summer's Olympic women's marathon at 38.
And don't forget 41-year-old supermom Dara Torres, who won three silver medals at those games. Or gymnast Oksana Chusovitina finishing 9th in the individual all around at 33 - twice the age of many of her rivals.
"It inspires those of us who are long beyond our twenties and want to get out there and try those things ourselves, not because we want to make the pros but to say well, if they can do it at their level, then I can do it at my level," said "Detroit Free Press" sports columnist Mitch Albom.
Take track and field, for example. The average age of an American Olympic athlete has gone up almost 4 years, from 23.4 in 1980 to 26.8 last year. And the numbers for weekend warriors are more impressive. In 1980, only half of the country's marathon entrants were over age 40. Last year, it was almost half.
The question is, why?
Nutrition and sports medicine have improved.
As Dr. Michael Kelly, chair of orthopedics at Hackensack Medical Center, put it, "They have core training as part of their fitness levels. They understand nutrition to a much better degree and they take care of themselves."
Smarter athletes, older athletes - running right past the idea of over the hill.