I am as credulous as anyone else. If I see it in print I tend to believe it’s true. But I find this one hard to swallow:
76-year-old great-grandmother running against Father Time on the track
The story – emailed to me by my friend Margaret Marshall – is about a Jamaican woman who lives in America and who is setting records in track events.
She celebrated her 77th birthday a couple of weeks ago.
Here’s what the news story says:
Rose Green is a champion sprinter. She has won medals in the 200 meters, the 400 meters, and is the American record holder in the 60-meter sprint.
She is also a great-grandmother.
Green will turn 77 on May 24 and only took up sprinting last year. But she is already one of the best in the world in her age group.
I remember being 77 and I was definitely not contemplating a career in track and field at the time.
I used to be a sprinter. Competed at a hundred yards and at 220 yards. Won the long jump in high school. But that was in high school.
At 77, I was panting after 18 holes of golf. In a golf cart.
But that’s not what leaves me scratching my head the hardest. The part that I find even harder to believe is about her relationship with her coach.
According to the news story:
Green and Austin have been dating for four years.
Dating? Does that mean what I think it means?
Apparently it does. And more. Ms. Green is quoted as saying:
He’s a very strict coach even though we are lovers.
You mean this lady has enough energy left to fool around after setting records in the sprints? Hard to believe. But she’s a Jamaican woman after all, and Jamaican women never cease to amaze me.
Top photo shows Ms. Green with her medals. Bottom photo with her coach/lover.
