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92 years old and still perched on parallel bars

Gymnastics is very strenuous , even more parallel bars that require a great arms strength and a strong abdominal belt. Despite that, some tournaments take place for elderly, especially the Turnfest in Berlin, where athletes come and go since last 3rd of June. But one of them drew all the attention : the 92-year-old German Johanna Quaas.

An impressive performance

With her 92 birthdays and her green leotard, she overwhelmed all the audience with her unbelievable performance. johanna quaas bars 92Enrolled in the 70 and more category for parallel bars, she reached the 5th place.
A fantastic performance for this old lady when we know how much physical efforts this sport requires. “The crowd on tuesday showed that people wanted to convince themselves that it was actually possible at her age” wrote the Taggespiel.

Read more : “Sports and the elderly : benefits and advice for a completely safe practice”

 

Gymnastics inside her DNA

This 5th place feels like the achievement of a lifetime dedicated to gymnastics. Indeed, Johanna Quaas, who was born in 1925, started gymnastics very early. “From the earliest days, I’ve been training myself doing flips and climbing on the bars,” she said to RBB. Unfortunately, the ban on doing gymnastics in Germany after World War 2 prevented her to realize her dream. Instead, she became a famous sport teacher : two of her students went to the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. Then, at the age of 57 years old, she started gymnastics again and won the elderly tournament 11 times. This success gave her the “world’s oldest gymnast” of the 2012 Guiness Records Book. We don’t know yet if Johanna will keep on training and performing in tournaments, she actually hesitated before starting her 6 months training before the Berlin tournament.

Teresa Shook, a 60 years old grandmother, at the origin of the Women’s March in Washington DC

On the USA election night, after the victory of Donald Trump, Teresa Shook, a 60 years old grandmother from Hawaii (Maui), decided to create an event page on Facebook “I think we should march”. She never expected the response she would get. Indeed, the next morning, more than 10,000 people said they were attending the event.

Her social media call-to-action is at the origin of the Women’s March which took place in Washington DC last week and it was followed by countries around the world.

[Read more…] about Teresa Shook, a 60 years old grandmother, at the origin of the Women’s March in Washington DC

Number of older adults in the USA expected to surge, highlighting need for accessible housing and policy improvements

By 2035, more than one in five people in the USA will be aged 65 and older and one in three households will be headed by someone in that age group, according to Projections and Implications for Housing a Growing Population: Older Adults 2015-2035, a report released last week by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

[Read more…] about Number of older adults in the USA expected to surge, highlighting need for accessible housing and policy improvements