The DOI matches its Crossref record; 8 of the 8 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Centenarian athletes: Examples of ultimate human performance?
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: some centenarians are engaged in regular physical activity and sometimes in sporting events. OBJECTIVE: we aimed to identify world records of centenarian athletes in several sports and determine which represented the best performance when compared to all-age world records, all disciplines taken together. METHODS: all of the best performances achieved by centenarians were identified and compared in three disciplines: athletics, swimming and cycling. The performances were considered as an average of the respective speeds, except for jumping and throwing events for which the maximum distances performed were considered. Within each discipline, the decline in performance of centenarian athletes was expressed as a percentage of the world record for that discipline. In total, 60 performances of centenarian athletes were found. These performances belong to 19 individuals: 10 in athletics, 8 in swimming and 1 in cycling. RESULTS: the centenarian world record performed by Robert Marchand in one hour track cycling appears to be the best performance (-50.6% compared with the all-age world record in this discipline) achieved by a centenarian. CONCLUSIONS: although the physiological characteristics of Robert Marchand are certainly exceptional, his remarkable performance could also be due to the lower age-related decline for cycling performances compared with running and swimming. Our observations offer new perspectives on how the human body can resist the deleterious effects of ageing.
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Lifelong exercisers and competitive master athletes have impressive absolute levels of physical performance compared to their physically inactive age-matched peers.
“the absolute levels of physical performance in these individuals are impressive compared to their physically inactive age-matched peers [21,22]”
From Global consensus on optimal exercise recommendations for enhancing healthy longevity in older adults (ICFSR) (2025) · cites this paper as [22]
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Vaupel, J. W. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08984 · Cited by 863
Do older athletes reach limits in their performance during marathon running?
Lepers, R., & Cattagni, T. (2011) · AGE · doi:10.1007/s11357-011-9271-z · Cited by 210
Self-citationAge-Related Decline in Olympic Triathlon Performance: Effect of Locomotion Mode
Bernard, T., Sultana, F., Lepers, R., Hausswirth, C., & Brisswalter, J. (2009) · Experimental Aging Research · doi:10.1080/03610730903418620 · Cited by 109
Self-citationAge-Associated Power Decline from Running, Jumping, and Throwing Male Masters World Records
Gava, P., Kern, H., & Carraro, U. (2015) · Experimental Aging Research · doi:10.1080/0361073x.2015.1001648 · Cited by 94
Age-Related Changes in Triathlon Performances
Lepers, R., Sultana, F., Bernard, T., Hausswirth, C., & Brisswalter, J. (2010) · International Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1055/s-0029-1243647 · Cited by 94
Self-citationWhat does it take to live to 100?
Perls, T. T., Levenson, R., Regan, M. M., & Puca, A. A. (2002) · Mechanisms of Ageing and Development · doi:10.1016/s0047-6374(01)00348-7 · Cited by 55
Venturelli, M., Schena, F. F., Scarsini, R., Muti, E., & Richardson, R. S. (2012) · AGE · doi:10.1007/s11357-011-9379-1 · Cited by 29
‘Olympic’ centenarians: Are they just biologically exceptional?
Sanchis‐Gomar, F., Pareja-Galeano, H., & Lucía, A. (2014) · International Journal of Cardiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2014.04.247 · Cited by 4
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
- 2010 Census Report Shows More Than 80 Percent of Centenarians are Women U.S. Department of Commerce, United States Census Bureau press release. Published December 10, 2012. (accessed 12 December, 2012).
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Izquierdo, M., de Souto Barreto, P., Arai, H., Bischoff-Ferrari, H. A., Cadore, E. L., Cesari, M., Chen, L.-K., Coen, P. M., Courneya, K. S., Duque, G., et al. (2025) · The Journal of nutrition, health and aging · doi:10.1016/j.jnha.2024.100401 · Cited by 273
Metadata
- Authors
- Lepers, R., Stapley, P. J., & Cattagni, T.
- Affiliations
- Inserm (FR)
- University of Wollongong (AU)
- Le Mans Université (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Lepers, Romuald
- Venue
- Age and Ageing
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2016-07-04
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 729-733
- ISSN
- 0002-0729 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2834
- OpenAlex
- W2473166148
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 5.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Age and Ageing (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Region des Pays de la Loire, France
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Physical Activity and Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Keywords
- centenarians, world records, athletic performance, age-related decline, aging, track cycling, track and field, swimming, human performance
- MeSH terms
- Age Factors, Aged, 80 and over, Bicycling, Female, Humans, Male, Sports, Track and Field, Athletic Performance, Athletes
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