Like LeBron James, one of the best basketball players in history who will turn 40 on Monday and is not giving up, other sports legends have pushed the limits of time after the passage of quarantine.
. Tom Brady
Upon his retirement in 2023, at age 45, the American football icon has won seven Super Bowls, including six with the New England Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Californian quarterback is also the oldest player elected MVP (best player) of a Super Bowl after his last success in 2021.
“I feel blessed and ready for the 2022 season!!”, he then warned.
. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The Swedish striker had to resolve in June 2023 to quit at the age of 41, after a final season tarnished by injuries.
But a year earlier, he was still crowned Italian champion with AC Milan, having played 23 matches and was even recalled to the selection.
The Lombard club brought back this extraordinary striker, renowned for his athletic qualities, at the end of 2019, when he seemed destined to quietly end his career with the Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS).
. Merlene Ottey
The Jamaican athlete was 40 years old when she won bronze in the 100m and silver in the 4x100m at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. These were his eighth and ninth Olympic medals in six Games, twenty years after the bronze obtained in the 200m in 1980 in Moscow.
But the indestructible Ottey will then glean two other bronze medals: at the 2001 Worlds (4×100 m) for Jamaica and at the 2003 Indoor Worlds (60 m) for Slovenia, after changing nationality.
During her last Olympics, in Athens in 2004, the champion, then aged 44, was eliminated in the 100m semi-final (5th). She will end her career at… 52 years old.
. Ant
Brazilian footballer Formiga has totaled 234 caps since her debut at the age of 17, in 1995, until her retirement in November 2021, at the age of 43. The midfielder has played for 15 clubs, from Sao Paulo to Malmö via New Jersey and PSG.
Still a starter at the Tokyo Games in 2021 (Brazil quarter-finalist), she becomes the first woman in a team sport to participate in seven Olympic tournaments. Formiga has played as many in the World Cup (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019), a record.
. Diana Taurasi
On July 29, 2022, Diana Taurasi scored 30 points against the Los Angeles Sparks at over 40 and became, with Michael Jordan and Dirk Nowitzki, one of three basketball players to achieve this performance in the American League.
Two years later, Taurasi, who no longer started with Team USA, nevertheless appeared on the scoresheet for the final of the Paris Games against France and was crowned Olympic champion for the sixth time in a row.
. George Foreman
Crowned world heavyweight champion for the first time in 1973 by beating Joe Frazier, “Big George” achieved the feat of reconquering the title in 1994, at the age of 45, becoming the oldest boxer on the roof of the world.
When he hung up his gloves three years later, he had a record of 76 victories, including 68 by knockout, for 5 defeats.
Another boxing legend, Manny Pacquiao was 40 years old when he captured the WBA welterweight title in July 2019.
. Mijain Lopez
The Cuban, Greco-Roman wrestling champion, entered the legend this summer by becoming in Paris, at almost 42 years old, the first athlete to win five consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same individual event.
At the end of an impressive journey, the colossus dominated the Chilean Yasmani Acosta (6-0) in the final of the premier category (+130 kg) before leaving the mat for good, leaving his shoes in the center of the circle, a tradition for wrestlers retiring.
. Johan Clarey
The French skier, a downhill specialist, was 41 years old when he won silver at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing and became the oldest Olympic medalist in alpine skiing.
The native of Annecy will continue to defy time at the start of 2023 by winning second place in the World Cup on the Streif (Kitzbühel), the most prestigious descent, only beaten by the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, untouchable that season .
The Haut-Savoyard hangs up his skis a few weeks later, after a fifth place in the Aspen descent.
. Gianluigi Buffon
Legend of Juventus, world champion with Italy in 2006, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is 45 years old when he decides in August 2023 to hang up his boots, after two last seasons in Serie B at Parma, the club of his beginnings.
Since 1995, +Gigi+ has spread its presence at the high level over four decades, following in the footsteps of another Italian goalkeeper, Dino Zoff, world champion at the age of 40, in 1982.
Considered one of the best goalkeepers of all time, Buffon is the player who has played the most matches in the Italian Championship (657). He also participated in five World Cups (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014) and holds the record for selections with the “Nazionale” (176, between 1997 and 2018)
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