The Olympic athletes are largely young, no surprise there, but there were exceptions. There was a 61-year-old lady from Luxembourg playing table tennis. Since there are 60-year-olds in the equestrian events, “She’s the oldest Olympian here who doesn’t ride a horse.” (She won her first match, then lost in the next round.)

Back to older athletes, there was a 41-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler from Cuba: Mijaín López, known as “El Terrible.” Here’s the opening of a Wall Street Journal piece, updated August 6, 2024:

PARIS—With a list of accomplishments longer than a swimming pool, Michael Phelps has a strong claim to be considered the greatest athlete in Olympic history. After all, his 23 gold medals is more than twice as many as anyone else.

But it turns out there’s another athlete, barely known to most of the sports world, who might have a better claim to that title. He stands at 6-foot-5, weighs about 290 pounds and has dedicated his life to overpowering some of the strongest men on the planet. 

His name is Mijaín López—and he might be the most dominant Olympian of all time.

López is a 41-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler from Cuba who seems less like an athlete than a tall tale: as solid as a mountain, as ungraspable as air. He can’t match Phelps’s overall medal count, but he looks set to achieve one feat that neither Phelps nor anyone else at the Games has ever done before. With a blowout 6-0 victory Tuesday over Chile’s Yasmani Acosta, López became the first person ever to win gold in the same individual Olympic event five times.

You can watch highlights of the Gold Medal match here. Stay tuned until the end, the most poignant moment of all. After the celebrations and hugs, López walked to the center of the ring, took off his shoes, and left them there, the universal signal in the wrestling world that he is retiring.

I don’t even know the guy, but I found that very moving.

Here, I am finished. You have to leave space for the youngsters that are coming. – Mijaín López

…the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4.6, 7, ESV)

GOD spoke to Moses: “These are your instructions regarding the Levites: At the age of twenty-five they will join the workforce in the Tent of Meeting; at the age of fifty they must retire from the work. They can assist their brothers in the tasks in the Tent of Meeting, but they are not permitted to do the actual work themselves. These are the ground rules for the work of the Levites.” (Numbers 8.23 – 26, MSG)