So much for the ailments. And of the age that at ninety is no longer just a given, but something to be displayed with pride. When he crossed the 200 meter finish line at the Palaindoor in Padua, his city, he didn't know he had just broken the world record. Yet Emma Maria Mazzenga, born in 1933, became the fastest ninety-year-old in the world in 54 seconds and 47 hundredths. Because the previous Over 90 record had stood for thirteen years and belonged to the Canadian Olga Kotelko: 1'01”72.
Born in Padua in August 1933, the fastest grandmother on Earth approached sport during her university years, then became a chemistry professor and resumed sporting activity at 53. When many are thinking of retiring. She lives alone, has been a widow for forty years, regularly drives her 500.
How did you feel when you set the world record?
«Actually, when I arrived I didn't know it. I was happy as soon as they notified me, my friend Rosa Marchi gave me the paper with the record written on it and it's the same paper you see in the photos in the newspapers these days."
His record comes after a not so simple period.
«Yes, in early August I had an accident, with a fracture of my sternum. I stopped, but as soon as I saw that I no longer had pain I started running again, so I started training for races. The record I broke dates back to 13 years ago and is set by Canadian Kotelko. Now, I don't want to be too modest, the time was quite high, because a minute is not a short time and I ran faster in training, so if everything goes well I should improve it further."
Stories of starting out at university.
«I started playing basketball but I was in denial. With athletics it was born a bit by chance because I was included in the team, then I stopped for a long period and started again at 53."
What does being able to do sport mean to you?
«Sport is something that has helped me a lot, when I have experienced bad moments it has helped me overcome them, when I train it helps me release nervous tension, it also keeps me in touch with people».
