Dutch-Canadian Betty Brussel is an inspiration to many: she is 99 years old but still broke three world records within her age category last weekend.
Brussel has only been competitive swimming since she was 60 years old, but saw herself able to break world records several times in recent years. This weekend, she noted a 12:50 minutes in the 400-meter freestyle, improving the former record by nearly four minutes. In the 50-meter backstroke, Brussels recorded 1:24 minute, nearly five seconds faster than the former world record. During the 50-meter breaststroke event – for which there was not yet a world record within her age category – Brussel delivered an exceptional performance, setting a remarkable time of 1:56:22.
Age is clearly just a number as Brussels still trains in the pool at least twice a week. Great footage of her 400 meters can be found below.
