Am I too old to get to the Olympics?

Pauly1992

I always had a dream to get to the Olympics. However, I was overweight/obese from a young age, so never even considered it to be plausible. However, I have recently lost a lot of weight, and have a newfound determination to everything I put my mind to. It's the first time I ever though I could do a sport without people laughing at my weight. However, I am 24, and am wondering - is it too late for my Olympic dream to come true? I would dedicate my self completely and totally to training, and genuinely don't mind what sport it would be in.

I'm genuine, so please genuine replies only!

P.S. If this isn't possible, I will probably go back to college and do physio, so I can volunteer and go to the Olympics via that route.

Pawwed Rig

Depends what sports you are interested in/good at. You are probably not going to be a gymnast for example.

Harika

Archery, Shooting, Diving have "recent" Olympic winners that are older than you.

topmanamillion

It's a huge ask.
Is there a sport you excell at?
Are you a member of an athletics club?

Good news: It's certainly possible for a 28 year old (your age in 4 years time) to compete at the Olympics.
Bad news: you don't seem to have a sport in mind. As you are 24 you'd really need to be excelling at a sport now.

I would say athletics/track events are out. Add swimming to that too. There's obvious ones too that will be out like long jump,gymnastics, synchronized diving etc.
They are events that require strength, conditioning and skill built up over years. They are also highly competitive. For instance you are unlikely to break into the top 3 marathon runners in the country, the standard required to be an olympian. Also the likes of Thomas Barr didn't just rock up at Rio, he was working towards it for well over a decade and would have been well known at junior athletics events for a long time.

My advice would be join an athletics club. Find sports you enjoy and have fun. If it turns out you are olympic standard at one then that would be amazing.

Pauly1992

Thanks for all your replies. Unfortunately I don't have much experience in any sport to play (I do enjoy watching them). Having been overweight, I had numerous problems associated with this, and this stopped me playing sport. I always blamed my asthma and other associated restrictions on my weight, but now admit that it was the other way around. It was my weight that gave me those other illnesses which restricted me from doing everything I wanted to do. I'm short, so that alone rules out a number of sports. I was thinking something like rowing or a sport such as that, were my short legs wouldn't be a disadvantage (don't think there's many sprinters with 29 inch legs).

Strazdas

Pauly1992 wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies. Unfortunately I don't have much experience in any sport to play (I do enjoy watching them). Having been overweight, I had numerous problems associated with this, and this stopped me playing sport. I always blamed my asthma and other associated restrictions on my weight, but now admit that it was the other way around. It was my weight that gave me those other illnesses which restricted me from doing everything I wanted to do. I'm short, so that alone rules out a number of sports. I was thinking something like rowing or a sport such as that, were my short legs wouldn't be a disadvantage (don't think there's many sprinters with 29 inch legs).

At 24, you would have quite a few options. Sinead Lynch competed in rowing at age 39 last week for example and Sanita Puspure is 34.

c montgomery

Winter olympics, bobsleigh

RossieMan

Can you throw? I'd imagine that'd be the easiest way in?

Eamondomc

I d say forget about athletics anyway, or swimming, these take years of muscle building and would need to be started at a younger age than you.
A specialist skill sport that wouldn't require such strenuous training and muscle building would probably be best.
A guy not far from me has been to a couple of olympics representing us at clay pidgeon/trap shooting. There are loads of such specialist sports and if you are determined, the worlds your oyster, good luck!

Eamondomc

c montgomery wrote: »

Winter olympics, bobsleigh

Cool running's?

walshb

I could be wrong but likely forget about any tough cardio based sport or skills based tough cardio sport. There are dozens of 'sports' in the games. And all of them do showcase the world's best in each. So, unless you magically find some hidden skill/genius in a sport like archery then you have as much chance getting there as you have winning the euromillions jackpot twice on the trot.

Btw, your age here is irrelevant.

Harika

Or for winter sports, just look up the best irish athlet in ski jumping, biathlon, snowboarding and so on and convince the irish ski federation that you are worthy to go like the guy from ghana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4tMDT_dB9Q

Eamondomc

Christ you cant even buy a ticket in Ireland to get to the olympics!

XR3i

take a few lines of ketamine and enter the sprint race

The_Kew_Tour

I'm sorry I be only wasting your time giving you answer and while to me you're dream seems too optimistic, I also admire and love your attitude.

Never dream too big some will say and why not. I wish you all the best if you do have a go at sport.

Squall Leonhart

XR3i wrote:

take a few lines of ketamine and enter the sprint race

On ketamine you'd probably lap yourself...

I'd echo what others have said, forget running or swimming etc, think equestrian or archery or something that hasn't required 15 years of physical training.

Even at that, while not impossible it is exceedingly unlikely you'll compete at that level since you don't even know now what you want to compete in.

paleoperson

This sounds like a joke. Fatty loses weight, now wants to be an olympian.

Of course it's too late. You don't just take up an olympic sport some day and become an olympian in it. Olympic gymnasts have been practising and training since they were 4 years old. I think you severely underestimate how competitive these sports are, everything has to be perfect and there is no room for johnny-come-latelies, not that late anyway. It would be like asking if you never played soccer before, could you take it up at 24 and play in a semi-professional league, don't tell me you can't see how absurd that is.

But aside from that, I feel like your motivation is coming from the wrong place. Your idea of taking up something just so you can be an olympian is not where it should be coming from. You should be passionate about and obsessed with the sport itself, not the idea of being an olympian.

The only remotely plausible ones would be something like discus throwing, where it's nearly all about the strength.

Ave Sodalis

Squall Leonhart wrote:

I'd echo what others have said, forget running or swimming etc, think equestrian or archery or something that hasn't required 15 years of physical training.

Equestrian? Are you mad?! It takes longer than 15 years to get to Olympic standard in any of the equestrian sports. Most competitors started when they were toddlers. That level of balance, strength, flexibility and bravery (along with an indepth knowledge of horses) takes years and years to build. There's a reason Bertram Allen stands out, and that's due to his youth, but he was still riding since he was a child...
Archery is something you have or don't. A bad archer will never really develop past a certain level. You can build up your shoulder muscle, you can research every type of shooting style, you can shoot for years... but a bad eye is a bad eye, bad coordination is bad coordination, and if you can't deal with pressure, you don't have a hope when even a blink or breath at the wrong time can throw you.

OP, have you ever tried rowing?

Brussels Sprout

the BBC did an article last week on what would be the "easiest" sport to get a medal in. They reckoned walking purely based on the low number of prospective opponents.

link

Squall Leonhart

sup_dude wrote:

Equestrian? Are you mad?! It takes longer than 15 years to get to Olympic standard in any of the equestrian sports. Most competitors started when they were toddlers. That level of balance, strength, flexibility and bravery (along with an indepth knowledge of horses) takes years and years to build. There's a reason Bertram Allen stands out, and that's due to his youth, but he was still riding since he was a child... Archery is something you have or don't. A bad archer will never really develop past a certain level. You can build up your shoulder muscle, you can research every type of shooting style, you can shoot for years... but a bad eye is a bad eye, bad coordination is bad coordination, and if you can't deal with pressure, you don't have a hope when even a blink or breath at the wrong time can throw you.

Oops, awful suggestions my end. Sorry. Didn't mean to undermine anybody's efforts in those sports. In retrospect it was foolish of me to make any suggestions really.

Honestly it does seem a bit arrogant of a 24 year old with no sporting history to talk about competing in the Olympics, as nice an ambition as it is.

Strazdas

Eamondomc wrote: »

I d say forget about athletics anyway, or swimming, these take years of muscle building and would need to be started at a younger age than you.
A specialist skill sport that wouldn't require such strenuous training and muscle building would probably be best.
A guy not far from me has been to a couple of olympics representing us at clay pidgeon/trap shooting. There are loads of such specialist sports and if you are determined, the worlds your oyster, good luck!

I'd agree here. Something like archery or shooting could be an interesting option for someone starting out in their mid twenties.

Fencing could be another one, more emphasis on skill than anything else.

topmanamillion

Strazdas wrote: »

I'd agree here. Something like archery or shooting could be an interesting option for someone starting out in their mid twenties.

Fencing could be another one, more emphasis on skill than anything else.

I understand where people are coming from with these suggestions i.e they aren't as physically demanding as track sports, But there's a huge amount of skill involved in shooting.
It's very naive to think a novice can just throw their hand at any of these sports and get up to Olympic standard.

Also people who have won medals at the Olympics in their 30s,40s and 50s have dedicated their lives to their sports and have had multiple set backs and failures along the way.

Strazdas

topmanamillion wrote: »

I understand where people are coming from with these suggestions i.e they aren't as physically demanding as track sports, But there's a huge amount of skill involved in shooting.
It's very naive to think a novice can just throw their hand at any of these sports and get up to Olympic standard.

Also people who have won medals at the Olympics in their 30s,40s and 50s have dedicated their lives to their sports and have had multiple set backs and failures along the way.

There have definitely been stories of people taking up events like shooting or archery in their forties. The problem is of course that this would be no guarantee the person would be any good at the sport.

Ave Sodalis

Squall Leonhart wrote:

Oops, awful suggestions my end. Sorry. Didn't mean to undermine anybody's efforts in those sports. In retrospect it was foolish of me to make any suggestions really.

No need to apologise, they're just my two sports. Equestrianism takes up two years to learn the very very basics to staying on, not including any form of horsemanship or anything else. I'm talking walk, trot, canter and tiny jumps (that a school horse goes over without you doing anything except put yourself in some form of position), without falling off too much. That's up to two years (the older you are, the longer it generally takes) to learn what would be the equivalent of a toddler learning to kick a football in a general direction.

Archery is a have it or not sport. I mean, in my old college club, we'd have about 200 people starting every year, but that might be whittled down to maybe 20 by the end, and maybe 2 would take it any way seriously.

Squall Leonhart wrote:

Honestly it does seem a bit arrogant of a 24 year old with no sporting history to talk about competing in the Olympics, as nice an ambition as it is.

Oh I don't know. It would take a serious amount of dedication but I think, with some sports, and with a bit of luck, it could be done. I mean, one of the reasons I suggested rowing was only a few years ago, there wasn't even a rowing club in my area. Now there's several and a few of them won medals at that All Irelands recently.
But the OP certainly won't be in the next Olympics!

topmanamillion

Strazdas wrote: »

There have definitely been stories of people taking up events like shooting or archery in their forties. The problem is of course that this would be no guarantee the person would be any good at the sport.

That would be my point.
Also are you saying people have taken up shooting in their 40s and became Olympians or just you've heard of people taking an interest in shooting in their 40s?

The whole point of the Olympics is its a competition for the elite. From an Irish point alone you need to be in the top 1 or 2 in your sport to even get on the plane.
The chances are remote of someone picking up any sport in their mid 20s and becoming an Olympian.

Now maybe the OP is willing to spend 10 or 15 years attempting to make the Olympics. Or they pick up a gun for the first time and shoot through the bullseye or they ride a horse and find out they are Genghis Khan's long lost Irish ancestor.
From reading the thread title post I would suspect the OP is rightly very happy with their weight loss and is looking for a challenge. The Olympics have just been the focus of the world's attention recently.
I would suggest an athletics club, sporting team etc if they can find something they excell at take it from there.
To jump from novice to Olympian is a big ask.

Wildlife Actor

Regrettably, this:

paleoperson wrote: »

This sounds like a joke. Fatty loses weight, now wants to be an olympian.

Of course it's too late. You don't just take up an olympic sport some day and become an olympian in it. Olympic gymnasts have been practising and training since they were 4 years old. I think you severely underestimate how competitive these sports are, everything has to be perfect and there is no room for johnny-come-latelies, not that late anyway. It would be like asking if you never played soccer before, could you take it up at 24 and play in a semi-professional league, don't tell me you can't see how absurd that is.

But aside from that, I feel like your motivation is coming from the wrong place. Your idea of taking up something just so you can be an olympian is not where it should be coming from. You should be passionate about and obsessed with the sport itself, not the idea of being an olympian.

The only remotely plausible ones would be something like discus throwing, where it's nearly all about the strength.

Except the bit about the discus.

And this:

sup_dude wrote: »

Equestrian? Are you mad?! It takes longer than 15 years to get to Olympic standard in any of the equestrian sports. Most competitors started when they were toddlers. That level of balance, strength, flexibility and bravery (along with an indepth knowledge of horses) takes years and years to build. There's a reason Bertram Allen stands out, and that's due to his youth, but he was still riding since he was a child...
Archery is something you have or don't. A bad archer will never really develop past a certain level. You can build up your shoulder muscle, you can research every type of shooting style, you can shoot for years... but a bad eye is a bad eye, bad coordination is bad coordination, and if you can't deal with pressure, you don't have a hope when even a blink or breath at the wrong time can throw you.

OP, have you ever tried rowing?

Except for the bit about rowing.

Take the O'Donovans. They're in the weight-restricted class where there are only two events. They have been rowing since they were 8 (so 13 years and 15 years respectively). They won the first Irish medal in the sport after 100 years of trying. They are lucky enough to have perfect physique for their sport (34 inch leg based on their height) and whatever amount of training they did as juniors (probably 8-10 sessions, 6 days a week), they will have been doing 12-14 sessions a week (average 90 mins each) for the past 3 years. Like most Olympians (including those who came last, unless their dad was head of the national association for the sport) they have satisfied the 10,000 hour rule.

I would say someone who knows about archery and discus will have something to say about the idea that you can just take them up from nowhere and be an olympian 4 years later.

From the couch, it's easy to look at an event and say say "I could do that" but guess what, only 1 person in every 100,000+ could. As Bill Murray said: "Every Olympic event should include one average person competing for reference"

Take Scott Evans, who got to the last 16 in badminton. Now, at a beginner level, badminton is an easy game to play against an equally bad player (it's a great sport for that very reason). Visually, to an uneducated observer, the difference between the best and an average punter is not easy to see. But this dude, who's now 28, has been a full time professional badminton player since the age of 17. So he was so good at 17 that he could give everything else in life up, travel abroad and just train train train. And then he adds 11 years of that training to get to these olympics and get through two rounds.

I doubt if anybody in the history of the olympics took up a sport to be an olympian and became an olympian. There are cases where a top quality athlete changes sports and becomes an olympian (e.g. Rebecca Romero went from rowing to velodrome cycling), but even those are few and far between.

OP, you should try out some sports that you think you might like. Give them a chance (don't just try them once and give up as you rarely begin to enjoy a worthwhile thing until you've given it a chance). If you like one, you will like it more with training. And if you really like it, you will want to train more.

Then, whatever happens after, you will share that much with the olympians: you train hard because you love doing the sport.

And if you're no good at it, follow my second hand motto: If you can't do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.