Anyone who thinks they're over the sporting hill at 50 should take a look at Sunday's results in the 2008 Paralympic Cycling Road Race competition. Two 50-plus men took gold medals on the day and a third was pushed into silver by just 0.01 second.
Of all the half-centurions, Heinz Frei of Switzerland at 50 stands out above the rest after taking gold in the Men's Road Race (HCB) to become the second double gold medalist of the competition. He matches David Stone of Great Britain who took both titles in the Mixed Time Trial and Road Race (CP1/CP2) events.
In a mad scramble for the line between five riders after 48.4km of racing in the Men's Road Race (HCB), the multi-Paralympic athlete Frei, with no previous appearances in the Paralympic cycling events, had the strength to edge out his four opponents to take the title by just 0.01 second and achieve a rare double. Frei also took gold in the Men's Time Trial (HCB) event.
After taking his second gold of the competition, the Swiss rider then watched in admiration as two rank outsider fellow 50 year-olds crossed the line one-hundredth of a second apart to take gold and silver in the Men's Road Race (B&VI 1-3).
After a lengthy deliberation, the judges finally awarded the gold to the 52-year-old 2007 World Championship seventh-placed rider Andrzej Zajac and his pilot Dariusz Flak of Poland ahead of the virtually unknown 50-year-old Jarmo Ollanketo and his pilot Marko Tormanen of Finland.
The flying Finns came home just 0.04 seconds faster than bronze-placed Olivier Donval piloted by John Saccomandi of France - who placed a lowly 21st at the 2007 World Championships - in a frantic dash to the line by nine riders who crossed within 3.22 seconds of one another after racing for over two hours to complete the 96.8km course.
The three medal winners and one other rider came home ahead of racing certainty Krzysztof Kosikowski of Poland, who had by far the best form on paper having taken gold in the 2007 World Championships and bronze in the Men's Time Trial (BV&I 1-3) on Friday.
By the time the Men's B&VI Road Race took place, the final event of the three-day meeting, the crowd had become almost inured to photo-finishes. The Men's Road Race (HCC) also finished with just 0.01 second separating first from third.
Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa was judged to have nipped the gold ahead of Alejandro Albor and Oz Sanchez of the United States who were awarded silver and bronze respectively, despite being given the same time.
Van Dyk's win gave South Africa its first gold of the competition and made up for the South African's disappointment at missing out on a medal in the Men's Time Trial (HCC) on Friday in which he placed fourth.
In contrast to the men's races, Sunday's Women's Road Race (B&VI 1-3) was won by a figurative mile by 2007 Paracycling World Championship winner Iryna Fiadotava and her pilot Alena Drazdova of Belarus who blazed round the 72.6km course to take gold three seconds ahead of Karissa Whitsell and her pilot Mackenzie Woodring of United States, gold medal winners at Athens four years ago.
The race's surprise package was complete unknown Genevieve Oullet and her pilot Mathilde Hupin of Canada with no international success to their names prior to this event. The Canadians took bronze ahead of the strongly-favored Lindy Hou and her pilot Toireasa Gallagher of Australia, who were given the same time as the Canadians but missed the bronze by a whisker.
Fiadotava's win was sweet revenge for the Belarus rider who was beaten to the silver by Whitsell in the Women's Time Trial (B&VI 1-3) on Friday.
But spare a thought for Hou who goes home empty-handed from the Road Race circuit after coming fourth twice by milliseconds in both Road Race and Time Trial events.
Sunday's results added the names of South Africa, Belarus and Poland to the gold medals board which finished with Britain on five; Spain, Germany and Team USA on three; Switzerland on two; and the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, France, Belarus, Poland and South Africa all with one medal.
Together with the 12 golds Britain took in the Track Cycling competition, the British Paralympic cycling team returns home with 17 titles - 12 ahead of their closest rival the United States - and will rightly be able to claim that, in Beijing, one whirled while the rest could only dream.
(BOCOG September 14, 2008)