FILE – In this Aug. 18, 2008, file photo, Carli Loyd, right, of the U.S., vies for the ball with Mizuho Sakaguchi, of Japan, during the Beijing 2008 Olympics women semifinals soccer match in Beijing. Older Olympians will be proving that age is just a number in Tokyo. Lloyd is going to be 39 when she plays for the U.S. women’s soccer team, but she’s not even the oldest soccer player competing this summer. Formiga, who plays for Brazil, is 43.
FILE – In this April 2, 2020, file photo, Phillip Dutton, a medal-winning equestrian on the U.S. Olympic team, smiles after a training session at his farm in West Grove, Pa. Older Olympians will be proving that age is just a number in Tokyo. The oldest member of Team USA headed to Tokyo is Dutton, a 57-year-old equestrian who competes in eventing, a combination of dressage, cross-country and jumping.
TOKYO (AP) — Much has been made about Carli Lloyd’s age. The American forward will be — gasp! — 39 when the Olympics soccer tournament kicks off.
But for all the focus on Lloyd, she’s not even going to be the oldest athlete competing in Tokyo.
Meet Formiga, who is a seemingly ageless 43-year-old midfielder for Brazil. She’s one of a number of Olympians who are proving that, yep, age is just a number.
“You know, I literally haven’t switched off for 17, 18 years. It’s been hard-core craziness. I’m sure my husband and my family are going to be excited when I’m done playing because I’ll actually get to do things,” said Lloyd, who is in her fourth Olympics.
The oldest Olympic athlete was a Swedish shooter named Oscar Swahn, who was 72 years, 280 days old when he won a silver medal in the 1920 Olympics.
But there’s a codicil to this distinction. For nearly 40 years, the Olympics awarded medals in the arts. British artist John Copley was 73 when he won a silver medal in “painting and engraving” in the 1948 Games. It was the last Olympics that included art.
The oldest member of the United States team headed to Tokyo is Phillip Dutton, a 57-year-old equestrian who competes in eventing, a combination of dressage, cross-country and jumping. This is Dutton’s seventh Olympics. He won the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games to become the oldest U.S. medalist since 1952. He was the oldest American in Rio, too.
