Celebrating Women’s History Month Part 1: Age Shouldn’t Make a Difference, Yet Some People Claim It Does

I love seeing excellence in sport being performed, and I’m particularly mesmerized by downhill skiers and open water sailing. The flow, the grace, the speed, the intensity, the strength, the precision, it’s all just so beautiful to watch. While I can’t ski, and fear the water, I relate to all these elements because it’s what I experienced driving a race car, so watching these other two sports just captivate me. It helps that women are incredibly successful competing in both, and in sailing they also compete against each other as well as with each other in mixed-gender teams.

There’s been a lot of noise about the age of these athletes, most recently about Lindsey Vonn returning at the age of 40 after retiring in 2019 due to injuries. Instead of applauding her commitment to healing and training to try to compete at the top level, with the goal of competing in the winter Olympics next year, there’s been so much criticism.  Listening to her interviews, sharing her joy and love of skiing and watching her attack the mountains has brought me so much joy as well as bringing back my memory of competing as a rookie at the Indianapolis 500 in 1992 at the age of 45 (winning Rookie of the Year honors). While not the same (I was a rookie for heavens sake) there still was a lot of noise about my age back then.

It also triggers my memory of the amazing swimmer, Dara Torres, who besides competing in five Olympic Games over a span of 24 years, in 2008, at the age of 41, she returned to compete in the 2008 Olympics and finished just .01 seconds from winning the gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle. Dara isn’t just an Olympic swimmer, she was a pioneer. She changed how people viewed longevity, commitment, and mindset. I got to know Dara when she trained and competed in the Toyota Celebrity Grand Prix Race and went on to be the celebrity winner in 2002 when Danica Patrick was the pro-winner.

On the flip side, I recently saw something about the most followed sailor in the 2024 Vendee Globe sailing race. At 23 years of age, she became the most followed sailor in the world on social media, amassing over a million followers across Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok. It’s time to celebrate extraordinary accomplishments, not criticize.

There are so many athletes, male and female, who have achieved significant victories in sports regardless of age. Raw talent, adaptive training, preparation, commitment, mindset, the never-give- up attitude and approach to life all come into play and should be respected and admired. Now that so much more information about their accomplishments is being shared, what a great way to be inspired by them and to try to make every day a better day.  Join me in making the commitment to celebrate all the women of achievement during March, Women’s History Month!