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72-Year-Old Wins Olympic Medal When it comes to the Olympic Games, it is certainly no secret that 20- and 30-somethings in the prime of their athletic lives corral the bulk of the medals. And that makes what Sweden’s Oscar Swahn pulled off during a 12-year-stretch—deep into his life—all the more remarkable. Swahn made his Olympic debut in shooting at the age of 60 at the 1908 Games in London and took advantage of his keen eyesight and quick reflexes to win three medals, two of them gold. He won

the running deer single-shot event and the next day helped Sweden win the single-shot team event. Swahn also won bronze in the double-shot event. Shooters stood 110 yards (100.58 meters) away from a deer-shaped target that moved across a 75-foot run in the span of about 4 seconds. Swahn returned to the Olympics in 1912 at the Stockholm Games, where he won a bronze in the double-shot and a gold medal in the team single- shot competition, becoming the oldest gold medalist of all time at the age of 64. But it turned out that he wasn’t done setting age records, or winning medals, just yet.

The Summer Olympics: Fascinating Facts

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