In Japan, World's Oldest Ironman Seeks Olympic Tips

Chiba, Japan, Aug 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Aug, 2021 ) :Japan's Hiromu Inada is watching the Tokyo Olympics hoping to pick up some tips from the athletes before he competes in next year's Ironman world championship, at the age of 90.

"There's so much to learn. I apply it to my training and it works! It's fun," the octogenarian athlete told AFP after one of his near-daily training sessions.

The Games are being held under strict virus rules, with spectators banned from almost all events, but that has not turned Inada off.

"I'm still having a great time." Inada, who turns 89 in November, already holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest person to complete an Ironman competition -- a gruelling format involving swimming 3.86 kilometres, cycling 180.25 kilometres and running a 42.2-kilometre marathon.

A three-time winner of the competition in his age group, his commitment to sport is so deep that he records footage of athletes at the Games and watches it to analyse their leg movements and posture.

This Olympics is the second Inada has watched in Tokyo -- back in 1964 when the city first hosted the Games he was a reporter at public broadcaster NHK.

But the atmosphere then was totally different, he said.

Those Games were in some ways a triumphant coming-out for Japan, which showcased technological marvels such as the shinkansen bullet train.

"There was no one who didn't watch the Olympics," he said, admitting he even skipped work to catch it.

People were glued to colour TVs at offices, city halls and electronics shops because the sets were still rare for many households, he said.