The poet Dylan Thomas famously wrote , “old age should burn and rave at close of day” – and a high-profile cohort of professional athletes seems to be taking him literally.
Authors
- Mike Annear
Senior Lecturer, Department of Tourism, Sport & Society, Lincoln University, New Zealand
- Hoani Smith
Lecturer in Sport Management and Sport Science, Lincoln University, New Zealand
- Richard Keith Wright
Associate Professor in Sport Leadership & Management, Auckland University of Technology
Samoan-New Zealand rugby great Ma’a Nonu (44) recently fronted for South African provincial team the Sharks against his old side, the All Blacks, to plaudits from fans of both teams.
Lebron James (41) remains a force in the United States National Basketball Association, averaging 20.9 points per game and 7.2 assists in his 23rd season.
Courtney Dauwalter (41) won the gruelling 2026 Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run , adding to her trove of ultra-distance successes. Japanese footballer Kazuyoshi Miura (59) continues to inspire in his 42nd professional season.
A relative junior, Argentina’s legendary Lionel Messi played in this year’s FIFA World Cup final aged 39. Portuguese superstar Christiano Ronaldo was 41 at the tournament – twice the age of world football’s emerging stars.
Of course, these are exceptions to the rule. They are genetically gifted, highly trained, arguably fortunate to have avoided career-limiting injuries, and have access to world-class physiotherapists, nutritionists and coaches.
Indeed, athletes over 40 remain outliers in professional sport. Many spend fewer than five years at the top, often experiencing injury as they reluctantly transition out .
But that is not to say we can’t learn from these legends. Importantly, they share with the rest of us a common underlying physiology and the capacity to adapt significantly to training.
They demonstrate the process of normal ageing does not have to be associated with major losses in fitness or strength.
Ageing doesn’t mean decline and disengagement
Around the developed world, population levels of inactivity in middle and later life are high, approaching 40% in many regions.
For those who do remain active, health is a major motivation – with good reason. The leading causes of death , heart disease and stroke, are strongly influenced by modifiable lifestyle factors, including inactivity.
Dementia also shares vascular risks with other leading killers, suggesting a dual role for exercise in sustaining physical and cognitive health .
Inactivity reduces quality of life because of its adverse impact on metabolism, frailty , muscle loss , and depression .
Encouragingly, however, inactivity is not a symptom of age-related declines in fitness, it is a root cause.
The human body retains a remarkable capacity to adapt as we age. Research suggests older adults can make major improvements in cardio-respiratory fitness and strength , with meaningful adaptations continuing beyond 70 years of age.
You’re never too old to use it
Age-related change is often treated as a one-way decline. In reality, regular training can preserve function and, in many cases, significantly improve it.
This remains true even for people who begin exercise later in life. Age simply changes the starting point. The ability to respond to appropriate training stimulus is still there.
We may not all dunk like Lebron, bound over rocks like Courtney or attack like Nonu. But older athletes provide striking examples of what remains possible on the other side of the proverbial hill.
Consider the sub-15-second 100-metre sprint world record of over-80 men’s champion Kenton Brown from the US, or the sub-seven-minute mile of over-75 women’s world record holder Sarah Roberts from the United Kingdom.
New Zealand’s Chunli Li won the women’s table tennis gold at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games aged 40. Following nearly a decade of retirement, she returned to compete at the 2014 Glasgow games aged 52.
Again, these examples are exceptional. But they remind us the ceiling for older bodies is much higher than we might assume.
No need for extremes
Evidence suggests the number of middle-aged and older adults taking part in serious sport and recreational endeavours is increasing , particularly in endurance events
For most people over 40, though, the goal is not an elite career, but to maintain fitness, strength, and to preserve the independence that makes life worth living.
That could mean completing a local park run, hiking a trail with family, returning to social football, playing with grandchildren or simply carrying groceries without pain or falling.
Aerobic exercise, resistance training and regular movement can all produce meaningful benefits. The most useful programme is usually not the most extreme, it’s the one that can be sustained and built on.
People who have underlying health conditions should seek appropriate medical advice before beginning a new exercise programme.
But the alternative also carries risks. As Swedish exercise physiologist Per Olaf Astrand would have put it, we might be equally well advised to seek a doctor’s opinion before committing to prolonged inactivity.
Next time you are watching Ma’a Nonu, LeBron James, Courteney Dauwalter or another veteran athlete and wondering how they’re still doing it, remember not to compare their performance and yours.
The better comparison is between what your body can do today and what you are capable of tomorrow. To return to Dylan Thomas, never squander an opportunity to “rage against the dying of the light”.
