The Swim Ontario Masters Championships were held this past weekend (Apr 19th-21st). I didn’t participate in this meet, but have been happily reading reports from members of my team as well as from others. And the overwhelming consensus was that the highlight of the meet was 100-year-old Kalis Rasmussen swimming in the 100-104 age group and setting world records in the 100 m IM (!), and the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke.
The 100 IM (Individual Medley) consists of 25 m of all four strokes, in the order of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. That means this 100-year-old woman swam 25 m of butterfly. Let me state that again: this 100-year-old woman swam 25 m of butterfly! OMG. I once swam 25 fly and it was exhausting!
She also swam the 50 breast, but did NOT set a world record. You’d think just showing up and completing the event would be enough. But this age group is COMPETITIVE. That’s right….there’s ANOTHER 100-year-old woman, Betty Brussel from BC, who owns the record for the 50 breast. Those two should have a match race!
My teammates said that all 500 swimmers at the meet were on their feet and cheering for Kalis, and some were in tears, as she completed her events. And that’s not surprising. It’s always the oldies, 80 and above, who get the loudest cheers at Masters meets. We love them for showing up, and for showing us what is possible.
I remember attending a Nationals meet in Winnipeg in 2009. The star of that meet was 101-year-old Jaring Timmerman. They held an exhibition relay with the Canadian men’s Olympic team, and he swam the anchor leg, with the entire arena on its feet! He didn’t stop there….Masters Swimming had to create a new age group, 105-109, for him as he continued to compete!
This rare group of athletes are re-defining what it means to be a life-long swimmer. They really ARE swimming (and training!) into deep old age.
We are stronger than we know.
