Said Fauja Singh, in 2016, quoted in
"Fauja Singh, Marathon Runner at an Advanced Age, Is Dead/Competing in London in 2011, he claimed to be 100, though his exact age remained a mystery. 'I run while talking to God,' he said in explaining his endurance" (NYT).
Singh’s case became emblematic of the difficulties race officials faced in determining the ages of elderly runners, especially when the athletes were born in places where birth certificates were unavailable or lost during tumultuous times.
“People in the third world are at a disadvantage for being taken seriously,” Harmander Singh told The New York Times in 2016.
Still, Fauja Singh had his supporters among fans and officials. Mr. Smith, the Ontario Masters official, said, “As far as I’m concerned, he was legit.” But, he added: “They just can’t start allowing world records when there is no birth certificate. It opens a whole can of worms.”
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18 comments:
So men in dresses get awards - but this guy needs proof he is 100?
whatever.
Well, what's the age on his death certificate, then?
Marathon runners need birth certificates.
Immigrants?
Presidents?
They can’t just simply rely upon the testimony of his lived experience? WTF?
- Krumhorn
“People in the third world are at a disadvantage for being taken seriously"
But the specific problem with India is it's chock full of BS artists of all sorts. Holy men who claim the ability to get sustenance by staring at the sun. Sadhvis who claim they're a thousand years old with armies of devotees fleecing people poorer than they are. Street peddlers who'll prove they can talk to animals for a fee, and vendors who'll accuse of you of not paying for the meal you just ate because an asked for receipt was unavailable because the printer is 'broken'.
India is a land of contradictions and loose standards. Accommodate that and become like India.
The opera ends when Fauja Singh.
There's always been a question of claims of great old age coming from places that didn't systematically record births.
I don't think the issue should be reframed as some sort of racial question or idea of being equitable toward the "Third World."
I remember the Dannon Yogurt commercials from the 70's about some Russian town where people lived to ridiculously old ages because they ate yogurt.
Except they didn't. They just lied about their ages to avoid serving in the Tsar's army in WWI.
How many incarnations does that 100 years cover?
They just lied about their ages to avoid serving in the Tsar's army in WWI. But they did this using brains powered by yogurt!! So yogurt did help them reach old age after all.
The Studies Show concluded that the best way to live to be 100 is to not have a birth certificate.
Re Indian "holy" men. He was not mentioned by name, but the State Dept travel advisory used to contain language warning about perv guru, sexual predator Sai Baba. His motto "Love All, Serve All" was more like "Love All, Service Some".
I knew reporter Jere Longman's byline from Philadelphia; a lifelong sports reporter. Now on the obits desk for NYT -- well, maybe not a bad place at this advanced age of 70 with his 71st birthday coming up tomorrow. Apparently he's run a few marathons himself. Good writer, a couple interesting books to his credit, too. Nice to see that once-familiar name.
Who gives a flying dog about documents. "Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don't need badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and chinga tu madre!"
That old dude was a stud.
Althouse:” I don't think the issue should be reframed as some sort of racial question or idea of being equitable toward the "Third World."
That is the solution to, all life’s problems.
Fake problems are created by reframing. Real problems are created by Physics.
Way to wreck a perfectly good Jeopardy question, cynics. (The only heuristic better than science at establishing facts is Third World Wisdom.)
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