One of the things that is fascinating is the fact that so many older athletes are competing at the highest international level. When I started in athletes back in Russia, athletes were not included in the national team if they were over 25 as they were seen to be too old! Even if you met all the criteria you wouldn't be put on the team...and that was 20 years ago. Now we are seeing people who are competing at the age of 40, 50 and even 60.

We don't need to go far for an example, with our flagbearer and three-time Olympic gold medalist James Tomkins still competing and pushing his body to the limits in rowing at the age of 43. Another is marathon runner Haile Satayin who will be among the oldest competitors at 53. I find that quite outstanding. I finished in athletics a few years ago and it is hard for me to imagine finishing a marathon let alone to qualify and compete at the Olympics. This is an outstanding achievement.

There are a lot more examples, but being a woman I am really interested in what is happening with the women and how long they can be active in their sport. Over the years we have been used to gymnasts finishing their careers at 18 or 19 years of age but now there is an example of a 33-year-old, Oksana Chusovitina of Germany who performed beautifully in what is considered to be one of the highest impact sports. Another is Dara Torres an American swimmer who is 41 and is the first swimmer from the US to compete in five Olympics. So just on an Olympic level that is 20 years of competing. I reckon it is mind blowing and unbelievable.

Obviously I know how hard it is physically and sometimes it is harder mentally and these people are able to overcome all the difficulties and go out there and compete. Dara Torres, in particular, puts it down to stretching exercises. Every athlete just finds something that works for them and for her she is doing a lot of stretches and she has hired people to help her go through her stretching routine after each training sessions and she reckons it is helping her in recovery and performance. She believes it increases her power and strength and decreases the chance of injury which would be one of the biggest problems at this age.

Another great example is Jeannie Longon who is still racing at 49 and 10 months. She is the French champion and world champion and is still considered to be the greatest female cyclist of her time.

From my own experience, training and competing at 25 was a lot easier than at 30. Recovery times are going down and the chances of injury is going up. You have to be a lot smarter because recovery is a massive part of your routine at an older age. When I was 25 I hardly thought about recovery and massage was a luxury because my body recovered quickly. As you get older you are become wiser and more experienced and you have to understand your body a lot more to get more out of it.   

Tomorrow I will on the Gold Coast launching the Masters Games which is giving people of an older age the chance to compete, try different sports and have fun...which is what being a ‘master' is all about!

I find all these examples extremely inspirational and it shows how the human body is not quite understood and shows that when someone has enough passion and dedication and discipline they can go for as long as they want. If people are passionate about their sport and are smart about looking after their bodies anything is possible. I find it quite amazing.

T