When she takes half within the 2022 Beijing Games, German pace skater Claudia Pechstein, 49, would be the oldest lady ever to compete at a Winter Olympics, NBC Sports reports. She turns 50 on February 22, simply two days after the closing ceremony. She can also be the second particular person — and solely lady — to compete in eight Winter Olympics. She’s going to tie Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai, who, till Pechstein formally races in Beijing, is the one athlete to rack up eight Winter Olympic appearances (Albertville 1992 by PyeongChang 2018).
Pechstein certified for the mass start occasion in speed skating (or long-track pace skating). All through her Olympic profession, starting with the 1992 Albertville Video games, she’s received 5 gold medals and 9 medals whole, most of which have been within the 3,000- and 5,000-meter occasions.
Pechstein was barred from competing for 2 years in 2009 attributable to “irregularly excessive blood values,” according to her Olympic profile. These ranges, The New York Times reports, may have indicated that she took EPO to spice up endurance or had a banned blood transfusion. The Worldwide Skating Union discovered the degrees to be indicative of doping. She missed the 2010 Vancouver Olympics on account of the ban and denies to this present day having ever used performance-enhancing medication.
According to the Associated Press, Pechstein, who’s referred to as herself “grandma” previously, says of her record-breaking Olympic look, “It is for me greater than the gold.” On the lads’s aspect, the oldest man to compete at a Winter Video games was reportedly Swedish curler Carl August Kronlund. He claimed silver on the 1924 Olympics when he was 58 years outdated and handed away in 1937.
To be taught extra concerning the US Olympic hopefuls, go to TeamUSA.org. Watch the Winter Olympics starting Feb. 3 on NBC.
