Agging athletes such as Labron James, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lindsay Von are similar to the racing cars – maintained by tinkering mechanics, data analysts and shelves of replacement parts
“If you look at several elite athletes, they have an army of assistant employees such as a Formula 1 team,” a Japan -born exercise physiologist Hirofumi Tanaka, a Japan -born at the University of Texas in Austin, told Associated Press in an interview.
Los Angeles Liass Star James and World Cup Skier Vaughan turned just 40 years old, and Socker’s Ronaldo hit the big-four-oh on 5 February. Add the seven -time Formula 1 champion Louis Hamilton, who turned 40 only a few weeks ago, as he moves forward. Ferrari in this season.
Tanaka said, “They have physical therapists, dietists, massage doctors, power coaches and so on.” “These elite athletes are helped to maintain their performance with this overall approach.”
Others like Quarterback Tom Brady, Hockey’s Jeromeir Jag, and Pitcher Nolan Ryan retired at the top and well in their 40s. Martina Navratriva won the US Open Mixed Doubles title in 2006 – just one month away at the age of 50.
Then Gordi Howe is, who finished his last National Hockey League season (1979–80) in 52. Japanese football player Kajyoshi Miura turned 58 in February and planned to play with the 40th professional session of the fourth-tier club Suzuka-Un.
And don’t forget the Hall of Fame Sachel Paige, who did not allow three innings to pitch three innings in a major league game in 59 with Canasus City athletics in 1965.
It is not new at all, but it used to be rare. What has changed is frequency, array of wires supporting colleagues, and reality – expectation – that athletes can compete and produce longer.
See any Grand Slam tennis tournament. The winner and losing in the final are essentially thanked their “teams”, as a half dozen employees played the stadium applause.
Peak performance at Olympics
Tanaka analyzed the Olympic data starting in 1896 with the first modern sports, and found that the age of the summit for men has been stable and based on the inter-30-30.
But gradually all the Olympians are growing up, and the figures for women do it out.
“Women’s summit performance was very young 20 or 30 years ago,” he said. “But now that the age of the summit is becoming like men.”
Tanaka was partially attributed to the cultural change in relation to marriage and child-bearing, which inspired women to leave before the aristocratic competition.
Of course, there are exceptions like Syrian Hend Zaza. At the age of 12, she was the youngest in the Tokyo Olympics, delayed by a year by 2021.
The best evidence is that athletes have been living for a long time and are seen in the so -called masters athletes while maintaining the performance. There is no standard age because each game sets different parameters.
Tanaka said, “The old athletes are getting closer and close to small athletes,” Tanaka said, talking about both men and women. “And the old masters athlete, the greater the improvement.”
Case of Lebron James
James is reported to spend about $ 1.5 million annually on his body to stay fit, a number he neither confirms nor refuses. He can tolerate it with an estimated price of more than $ 1 billion.
James talks about being on top of the Netflix series “Starting 5.” Perhaps he is not getting better with age, but has very little drop-off.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said, “In some ways he is a part of nature.” “I have been around a lot of great players and is one of the most difficult working players that I have been around. I mean, he does not take a day off. He does not take one afternoon.
“He is always working on some part of his body,” Silver said. “You meet with him and he is always soaking something or eating something or is something contraceptive with him.”
Lindsay Von’s return and its titanium knee
A new titanium is returning to the World Cup circuit after a correct knee. James, of course, has never gone away after breaking up in NBA and 18.
Like James, von talks about the benefits of ice bath and new recovery methods that were not in his career before.
He said that he is inspired by athletes such as Brady, Hamilton and Serena Williams, who won their last Grand Slam singles title in 35 in the Australian Open in 2017. She was several weeks of pregnant at that time, which she did not announce until months later. ,
“Tom, Lewis, Serena. He has done all this, “Von said. “Athletes have now allowed better recovery. So even if you are older, you are still recovering faster than my 20s. ,
Vaughan recently told AP in an interview at Cortina D’Mepazo, Italy, that she could reduce her to stay fit, or at least to maintain her knee functioning.
“My knees don’t bother me,” he said. “I don’t get up and do kneecap (exercise) for 15 minutes and warm up 30 minutes to get out of the door.
“I am doing a normal warm -up like normal athletes,” he said. “I don’t have to separate anything that takes very little energy, very little mental stress.”
Now she simply focuses on maintaining other parts of her body.