I want to be like her when I grow up

From Masterstrack, Olga setting a new world record

I just learned about Olga Kotelko yesterday, when one of my Facebook friends shared a link that Olga died on Tuesday at the age of 95. Her personal story is rather amazing, but when I found that she lived in West Vancouver, Canada, a few miles away from me, I felt humbled to think that I might have actually rubbed elbows with her, if I'd only been aware of her existence. Maybe I did and didn't know it.

Olga was a teacher until she retired at 65. She took up slow-pitch baseball at the age of 70, playing five different positions. Somewhere I read that she was quite competitive and enjoyed it very much. But then when she turned 77, someone suggested that she compete in track and field. She didn't realize, she said, that people her age even did that sort of thing. But boy, did she take to it like a duck to water! She has her own web page, and was just getting ready to start on a book tour to promote her new book, Olga: The O.K. Way to a Healthy Happy Life, and she was looking forward to competing in a new age category, since she turned 95 in March. Actually, she went to Budapest and just recently won a bazillion medals in her new W95 age group.

According to that blog post (linked under her picture, from Masterstrack), her Canadian author friend Bruce Grierson called Ken Stone, who writes the blog, with the news that Olga had died this past Tuesday of an intracranial hemorrhage. She was in a coma for a few days before she finally passed away. From the article, a quote from Bruce:

"Doctors say she would have lost consciousness immediately — zero suffering. It was — albeit premature and shocking — the perfect way to go out. She left nothing significant undone or undreamed. Gerontologists talk about ‘squaring the curve’ — i.e., living life ablaze with little or no decline toward the end, and then an abrupt demise. Olga squared the curve with a ruler. It was a real gift to get to know her. She changed my life, for sure.” Bruce published “What Makes Olga Run?” this year and went on tour with her. 

Anyway, she was definitely an exceptional person, and she was obviously born with the perfect combination of genes and personality to become the outstanding athlete that she was. Right now I'm happy to introduce my blogging friends to a real light in the world. The two books just published will ensure that Olga will not be forgotten for a long time. I found this lovely two-and-a-half minute YouTube video on her website.



Enjoy! Blue skies, Olga.
:-)