Spain’s age-defying athletes share their secrets
Málaga, Spain, Dec 27 (EFE).- Miguel García Velasco started running regularly at the age of 41. Six months later, he took part in his first marathon and 45 years on, the older athlete from Málaga continues to run almost every day.
“When I have not run for a couple of days, I dream of racing,” he tells Efe.
Miguel says sport is an essential part of his life and that he won’t stop “as long as he can” continue moving.
The 86-year-old trains six days a week and runs an average of 13 kilometers a day in about two hours.
Miguel has run some 20 marathons in his native Spain and as many half marathons in Spain, Portugal and France.
“There are no tricks, only perseverance and perseverance,” says Miguel.
The athlete says that his head, not his feet, is what has allowed him to run and “crush it” for more than 40 years.
Joaquín Canales began swimming at a very young age, standing out above his peers.
In the 1960s, he achieved the sixth-best time in Spain in the 100-meter butterfly race and was even shortlisted to compete in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, but a foot injury that was not treated in time cut his professional career short.
Joaquín won the lottery, which allowed him to invest in several hotel chains and become a successful businessman. Running three companies caused him a great deal of stress and at the age of 53, he realized that he had to return to swimming or he was going to go “crazy.”
“Either I found a pool or one day I was going to lose it,” the award-winning swimmer tells Efe.
Since then he has trained for years in a 50-meter indoor pool in Torremolinos, near Málaga.
He goes six days a week and swims around 3,000 meters a day, although he says a health issue has forced him to lower his times recently.
The 82-year-old has almost 50 medals, including two golds and one silver he won at the European Swimming Masters Championship in Rome.
“There are no secrets. It is something that is innate and he who once had it, held onto it,” the swimmer says. EFE
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