Betty Brussel took up competitive swimming at in her mid-sixties. Now 99, she’s won hundreds of medals - and just broke three world records in her age group.

“When I swim, I feel so happy,” said Brussel, who lives in British Columbia. “It’s the most relaxing feeling to just glide through the water.”

Last weekend, she broke the world record in her age group for the 400-meter freestyle - she swam it in 12 minutes and 50 seconds - beating the previous record-holder by nearly four minutes. Brussel competes in the 100-to-104 age category, as categories are determined by birth year.

She also set a new record for the 50-meter breaststroke, which she did in one minute and 52 seconds, and the 50-meter backstroke, which took her one minute and 24 seconds.

  • AirBreather@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    From the article:

    Brussel competes in the 100-to-104 age category, as categories are determined by birth year.

    • Ross_audio@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Yeah, they fucked up naming categories if a 99 year old now owns the 100+ records.

      Even though the summary makes it clear, the summary being necessary is a failure of naming.

      Regardless of the reasons for competition, I now want to know who over 100 has the fastest time and it’s not this person.