The World’s Oldest Track & Field World Record Holder
His name is Hidekichi Miyazaki. He’s 105 years old, and he just became the world’s oldest competitive sprinter, managing to run the 100-meter spring in just 42.22 seconds at the Kyoto Masters Athletics Autumn Competition in Kyoto, Japan. The last world record holder in that race? It was also Miyazaki. It’s how the thirty years-retired agricultural worker gained the nickname “the Golden Bolt.”
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He earned the nickname back in 2004 at age 96, only three years after he took up competitive running. Miyazaki’s most recent Guinness World Record, which he set this past September, was seized just a day after he turned 105. How does he do it?
A good night’s sleep for one, said the father of four and grandfather of ten, and chewing your food properly.
“The doctors are all surprised. It’s all about being in good health,” said Miyazaki, who trains for the 100-meter sprint and the shot put every day at his local park. “The doctors gave me a medical examination a couple of days ago and I’m fit as a fiddle.”
Miyazaki is definitely “fit as a fiddle,” and he holds high expectations of himself. Giving up is not quite in the cards just yet. There are more world records to set.
“My brain might not be the sharpest but physically I’m tip-top. I’ve never had any health problems,” he said. “The doctors are amazed by me. I can definitely keep on running for another two or three years.”
Miyazaki told CNN that he not only runs for his health, but also for a gold medal – just like his inspiration, inspiration is Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, whose now-famous “lightning” pose was recently struck by the Golden Bolt himself. After all, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Miyazaki wants to set the record at 35 or 36 seconds – he said he was able to achieve the latter recently during one of his daily practices.
“He is an amazing individual,” said Kenji Iwanami, the Secretary-General of the Kyoto Masters competition Miyazaki recently took part in. “His mind is clear and he manages his condition perfectly.”