As LeBron James vows to defy age, 7 sporting stars who still shone in their 40s
- Los Angeles Lakers superstar wants to win a fifth championship and continue playing until his son joins him in the NBA
- Precedents from Tom Brady to Tiger Woods show there are exceptions to the rule that age catches up with everyone
Age is just a number, right? For most of us that rings true, but in the world of competitive sport, the older you get, the harder it usually is to win.
Years of wear and tear, while pushing your body to the outer limits of human potential, eventually takes its toll. But there are exceptions to the rule.
Innovations in sports science, treatment, training and diet have seen professional athletes push themselves harder and for longer than ever before.
The issue of age has garnered some attention this week as Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James made it clear that a fifth NBA championship title was in his sights. James, who turned 38 on Friday, reflected on his career after another frustrating Lakers defeat, this one to the Miami Heat.
“I’m a winner, and I want to win and give myself a chance to win and still compete for championships,” James said. “That has always been my passion, that has always been my goal since I entered the league as an 18-year-old kid out of Akron, Ohio.”
James has said he wants to keep playing until his eldest son, Bronny, reaches the NBA, which would be in 2024 at the earliest under current rules.
“I think about how much longer I’m going to play the game,” he said. “I think about that I don’t want to finish my career playing at this level – from a team aspect.”
James needs only to look to NFL, golf, athletics and boxing greats for inspiration and to see that age may be just a number after all.
Tom Brady
If ever you needed an exception to the age rule, look no further than seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. After a brief brush with retirement, Brady returned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March for a 23rd season, his retirement lasting a mere six weeks. The only quarterback to win a Super Bowl in three separate decades, Brady was 43 when he won his seventh with the Buccaneers.
Tiger Woods
Like Brady, golfing great Tiger Woods was 43 when he won the Masters, edging out Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele by one stroke. The 2019 triumph was Woods’ first major title in 11 years and his 15th overall, and came 22 years after he first won the event as a 21-year-old in 1997.
But Woods is not the only pro golfer to defy age. With his win at the 2021 PGA Championship, Mickelson became the oldest major championship winner in history at the age of 50. Jack Nicklaus, considered one of the greatest of all time, won three majors in his 40s, including the US Open in 1980.
Kelly Ruddick
At the age of 49, Australian race walker Kelly Ruddick continues to compete at the highest level. Earlier this year Ruddick became the oldest ever female competitor at the World Athletics Championships after being selected by Athletics Australia for the 35km race walk in Eugene, Oregon. Although she placed 34th, the past 12 months have been memorable for Ruddick. In May, she finished first at the gruelling Oceania Open 35km Race Walking Championships in Melbourne, before placing fifth at the Australian Open 10km Race Walking Championships in Sydney.
Dino Zoff
Italian football great Dino Zoff became the oldest man to captain a World Cup-winning side when he lifted the trophy in 1982, aged 40. The goalkeeper retired from playing in 1983 after 642 league appearances and 112 games for Italy. While it’s tempting to include Lionel Messi here after his 2022 World Cup heroics in Qatar, the Argentina skipper was a sprightly 35 years old, well short of Zoff’s record.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Outside his mammoth contribution to basketball per se – and the Bruce Lee film Game of Death, in which he played Mantis, the fifth floor guardian – the LA Lakers centre set a few age milestones. Before his last dance in the NBA in the 1988-89 season, a 41-year-old Abdul-Jabbar helped the Lakers win an NBA championship – their last until Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal won it in 2000.
Robert Parish
There are numerous basketball greats who pushed well past 40. Another was Robert Parish, who in the 1996–19 season became the oldest player to win an NBA championship, with the Bulls at the age of 43. He retired soon after with the most games played of any NBA player, with 1611 games, a record that still stands.
Bernard Hopkins
Boxing isn’t a sport in which the phrase “the older you get, the better you are” is readily thrown around – quite the opposite. Hence the stand-out nature of Bernard Hopkins becoming, at 46, the oldest fighter to win a major world championship belt as he claimed the WBC light-heavyweight title in 2011 by defeating Jean Pascal. Hopkins later broke his own record by winning the IBF light-heavyweight crown from Tavoris Cloud in 2013, and again in 2014 when he took the WBA (Super) title from Beibut Shumenov – aged 48 and 49 respectively.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
