Yahoo – AFP,
Alastair Himmer, 28 Aug 2014
103-year-old
Japanese sprinter Hidekichi Miyazaki (C) leaves the start line
during the men's
100m dash at a competition in Kyoto on August 3, 2014
(AFP Photo/Toru Yamanaka)
|
Kyoto
(Japan) (AFP) - Closing in on his 104th birthday, a twinkle-toed Japanese
sprinter has thrown down the challenge to the world's fastest man Usain Bolt,
telling him: "let's rumble!"
Hidekichi
Miyazaki -- who holds the 100 metres world record for centenarians at 29.83
seconds and is dubbed 'Golden Bolt' after the Jamaican flyer -- plans to wait
another five years for his dream race and was happy to reveal his secret
weapon: his daughter's tangerine jam.
"I'd
love to race Bolt," the wispy-haired Miyazaki told AFP in an interview
after tottering over the line with a joyful whoop at a recent Japan Masters
Athletics competition in Kyoto.
103-year-old
Japanese sprinter Hidekichi
Miyazaki runs during the men's 100m dash
at a
competition in Kyoto on August 3, 2014
(AFP Photo/Toru Yamanaka)
|
Born in
1910 -- the year Japan annexed Korea and when the Titanic was still under
construction -- the pint-sized Miyazaki offered some dietary tips to Bolt,
whose world record is 9.58 seconds.
"My
body is small so I take care of what I eat," said Miyazaki, who stands
just 1.53 metres (five feet) tall and weighs in at 42 kilograms (92 pounds).
"When
I eat, I chew each mouthful 30 times before swallowing," he added,
loosening his Usain Bolt running shoes. "That makes my tummy happy and
helps my running. And I eat my tangerine jam every day."
In a
country with one of the world's highest life expectancies, Miyazaki is the
poster boy for Japan's turbo-charged geriatrics.
Some 6,000
pensioners are registered at the Masters federation which hosts more than 40
track and field meetings every year across the nation.
Serenaded
by buzzing cicadas in sweltering heat, Miyazaki fell into the arms of
73-year-old daughter Kiyono after clocking 38.35 -- more than 20 seconds behind
race winner Yoshio Kita, a relative spring chicken at 82.
"I'd
give myself five out of 10 for that," he said after regaining his breath
and copying Bolt's trademark 'lightning' pose. "Before I ran I curled up
for a little nap -- big mistake! I felt stiff.
"I'm
still young so it's a learning process," joked Miyazaki, grinning from ear
to ear as he put on a straw hat. "I can run for another five years."
Late
bloomer
Miyazaki,
who hails from tea-growing Shizuoka prefecture, about 200 kilometres southwest
of Tokyo, was a late bloomer, only taking up running at the age of 92 after
watching an old people's sports day broadcast on television.
85-year-old
Japanese athlete Mitsue Tsuji (R)
starts during women's 60m dash at a Japan
Masters Athletics competition in Kyoto on
August 3, 2014 (AFP Photo/Toru
Yamanaka)
|
"That's
what I'm training for," said Miyazaki, who loses valuable seconds at the
start of races because he can't hear the gun go off.
"It's
my birthday next month and that's my next goal."
He need
only cross the finish line to set the new world record as no official mark
exists in that age class.
As Miyazaki
left the track, 85-year-old Mitsue Tsuji tossed a shot put 4.73 metres -- this
after she had set a mark of 2.07 metres in the long jump. Not content, she set
a meet record of 13.85 in the women's 60 metres sprint.
"I
started doing athletics when I was 81," she said. "My husband had
passed away and I thought there was no point moping around at home alone."
Tsuji will
join Miyazaki at next month's Asia Masters championships in northeast Japan.
"I had
a bit of a fall last year and was going to skip it," said Tsuji, who
credits power naps for her age-defying stamina.
"But
my son told me I might not live much longer so I'll do as I'm told. I'll keep
going as long as I'm around."
As the pair
tore it up with the other high-fiving grannies and granddads in Kyoto, 78-year-old
endurance runner Yoko Nakano pounded the streets in Tokyo, preparing for her
latest world record tilt.
'Too stubborn to quit'
78-year-old
Japanese endurance runner
Yoko Nakano jogs on the street in Tokyo on
July 28,
2014, preparing for her latest world
record tilt (AFP Photo/Toru Yamanaka)
|
"We
were on holiday so I thought we might as well run," she smiled, perched on
a tree stump in a canary yellow T-shirt and polka dot scarf. Her world marathon
mark now stands at 3:53.42.
The
bespectacled Nakano, whose has also run marathons in New York and Boston,
bounced back from stomach surgery last year, building her post-op fitness by
walking up and down the hospital corridors.
"I walked
about seven kilometres a day inside the hospital," she said. "I guess
I'm too stubborn to quit."
Miyazaki,
who is also handy with a shot put, gave an insight into his need for speed.
"I
make sure not to use my brain," he said. "I always keep it empty and
uncluttered. That's important."
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