The joy of never retiring – Carl Lewis and Nadia Comaneci show the way

What comes after greatness: staying fit for life

You were the world’s fastest sprinter, greatest woman gymnast, NFL’s greatest star, America’s basketball gold-medal winner. What can you possibly do next?

Well, it’s even more exciting — you stay fit.

That’s the collective aim of Carl Lewis who ran 9.86 seconds for the 100 metres, Nadia Comaneci who achieved more perfect scores than anybody in history, Jerry Rice who won three Super Bowls for the ‘49ers, and Cheryl Miller who collected her gold at the LA Olympics in 1984.

They’re all in their sixties now and they pursue the same goal. As Carl Lewis told National Geographic in a brilliant series called Older, Faster, Stronger, “I want to live to 100.” And by the look of him, he’s going to get there.

Now the head coach of the track-and-field programme at the University of Houston — which is surely a big task on its own — 64-year-old Lewis likes to set himself goals, like bench-pressing 300 pounds.

“I’ve always felt like you need to have two or three reasons why you want to push yourself,” he explains. “For me, I just feel better — physically and emotionally — when I work out and keep my weight down. And there’s definitely some vanity in there.”

Despite owning a drawer-full of gold medals, Lewis knows he can’t rest on his laurels. When people tell him he’s superhuman, he politely points out that he’s actually the same as everybody else.

Except, of course, he tries harder.

Carl Lewis: still setting records in his sixties

After her Olympic career was over, Comaneci stopped exercising and the penny only dropped when she found herself gasping for breath while kicking a football around with friends. “Oh my gosh, that doesn’t seem right,” she told the magazine. “Especially for a former athlete.”

That realisation sent her to Gold’s Gym near her house in Venice Beach, California, where she — well — struck gold all over again.

Nadia Comaneci: rediscovering fitness after fame

“I realized over time that my body was developing different muscles and that I felt better. That was the most important thing. I was even thinking better,” she recalls.

The great gymnast now works out 40 minutes a day, every day.

Cheryl Miller: joy, faith and starting over

When, sore and injured, Cheryl Miller retired from basketball as one of the sport’s biggest stars, she couldn’t even play a pick-up game anymore. It hurt too much.

But after recently getting knee replacements — mainly because she couldn’t even ride a bike without suffering — her life was turned around.

“I’m a kid in the candy store,” says this religious-minded woman. “I’m learning how to run again. I wake up at four in the morning, get myself organized for the day, do my Bible study, and then I’m out the door and walking up hills and jogging, and it’s such a joy.”

Jerry Rice: the athlete who never retired

As for Jerry Rice, he never retired. After 20 years in the most bruising of sports, he just set himself new goals while also running a sports-drink business.

“I’m not dialling anything back now, man,” he says. “I’m always challenging myself to be the best individual that I can be. It’s just in my DNA.”

Nobody says it’s better: “I want people to know that after you step away from something that you’ve been doing for a long, long time, life is not over. I actually believe that when people have nothing to do after their careers, that’s when everything goes downhill. There’s nothing to wake up for and be excited about.”

Why the best never stop moving

The stories of Lewis, Comaneci, Miller and Rice prove one thing — the best never stop. They might have traded podiums for parks and stadiums for gym floors, but these never-retiring-athletes drive to move, to improve, and to stay alive in every sense hasn’t changed.

It’s not about medals anymore — it’s about momentum.

Image credits: bertolinephotos; Erik Drost; Barcex from Wikimedia Commons and Unsplash.