{"id":14862,"date":"2018-02-10T03:22:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-10T03:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2018\/02\/10\/the-oldest-rookie-in-the-winter-olympics-will-turn-50-this-year\/"},"modified":"2018-02-10T03:22:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-10T03:22:00","slug":"the-oldest-rookie-in-the-winter-olympics-will-turn-50-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/the-oldest-rookie-in-the-winter-olympics-will-turn-50-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"The Oldest Rookie In The Winter Olympics Will Turn 50 This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bill Chappell<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Finland’s Tomi Rantamaeki, seen here delivering a stone with curling teammate Oona Kauste of Finland, is the oldest rookie at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

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Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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The Olympics are often a showcase for youth \u2014 but they can also show the benefits of being in shape later in life. That’s the case with Tomi Rantamaeki, a Finnish curler who is making his Winter Olympics debut in Pyeongchang, months before he turns 50.<\/p>\n

Rantamaeki is a curler who’s currently in the mixed doubles tournament along with his teammate, Oona Kauste. Despite their experience \u2014 Rantamaeki is a former national coach for the Finnish Curling Association, and Kauste is the skipper on the Finnish women’s team \u2014 the pair have been struggling in the new mixed-doubles format; they now sit in last place.<\/p>\n

Rantamaeki’s Olympic moment comes 32 years after he took up curling while he was in high school.<\/p>\n

After a recent match, Rantamaeki was asked about his age and his status as the oldest rookie in Pyeongchang. Here are some of his remarks, as transcribed by the Olympic Information Service:<\/p>\n

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“People are eating wrong. If you take care of yourself, both mentally and physically, you stay young. Age is only a number.<\/p>\n

“I hope I’m a good example for people to live well and stay young, but everybody has to find their own way to do it. I can’t say ‘Do this, do that.’<\/p>\n

“I remember when I was younger, the body was a little bit easier to live with. But I’ve not had any big problems. I’ve had some injuries and I know that injuries now take quite a long time to heal.<\/p>\n

“Maybe a 20-year-old will recover in three months, but for me it might take half a year or even a year, because the cells are not reproducing at the same rate. In that sense, I just need to be more careful than the 20-year-olds who can do anything.<\/p>\n

“Just to live life in a clever way, not to waste too much energy doing wrong things, not to take too big physical risks, like go downhill skiing or something like that.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n