Celebrating athletes who defied the ageing process
Tom Brady
Evergreen
George Foreman
Phil Mickelson
Gordie Howe
Dara Torres
Martina Navratilova
sporting legends
Tom Brady is regarded by many as the greatest quarterback in history, having won more Super Bowls than any other player and setting an impressive number of records. Brady may yet break a few more: he recently signed a contract extension to the end of the 2022 NFL season - at which point he will be 45 years old.
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Data correct up to end of 2020 season
Age: 43 (still active)
Sport: NFL
Most Super Bowl wins
Only two players in the history of the NFL have won more than four Super Bowls: Charles Haley with five and Brady with seven.
Tom Brady Charles Haley 34 other players
Six of Brady’s Super Bowl wins were with the New England Patriots, whom he represented from 2000 to 2019. In 2020, he won his seventh championship with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during his first season in Florida.
7 5 4
Most career wins by a quarterback
Tom Brady Brett Favre Peyton Manning Drew Brees Ben Roethlisberger
Brady is one of the most successful players in the history of the NFL, having won far more regular season games than any other starting quarterback.
230 186 186 172 156
Oldest player to win an MVP award
Tom Brady Peyton Manning Y. A. Tittle Aaron Rodgers Rich Gannon
Brady is the oldest player to win the season’s Most Valuable Player award and the only player to do so after turning 38. When he won the most recent of his three MVP awards in 2017, he was nearly three years older than the previous record holder Peyton Manning had been.
40 years 184 days 37 years 270 days 37 years 50 days 37 years 25 days 37 years 8 days
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Most passing touchdowns
Tom Brady Drew Brees Peyton Manning Brett Favre Philip Rivers
Brady’s passes have resulted in more touchdowns than those of any other player in NFL history.
581 571 539 508 421
TOM BRADy
Evergreen sporting legends:
After winning a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics, Foreman turned professional the following year and took just three and a half years to become world heavyweight champion. He retired suddenly in 1977 but returned to the sport a decade later, culminating in a shock win over 26-year-old Michael Moorer in 1994 at the age of 45. This victory saw him regain the WBA belt he had lost to Muhammad Ali over two decades earlier.
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Age at retirement: 48
Sport: Boxing
Second fastest knockout by a heavyweight challenger
Liston vs. Patterson Foreman vs. Frazier
When Foreman knocked out the previously undefeated Joe Frazier to win the WBA and WBC heavyweight titles in 1973, he needed just two rounds to do so. Only Sonny Liston has knocked out a reigning heavyweight champion in a title fight more quickly.
George Foreman Vitali Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko Oleg Maskaev Jersey Joe Walcott
46 years 5 months 18 days 42Y 2M 26D 38Y 7M 23D 39Y 8M 3D 39Y 6D
Oldest heavyweight champion
Foreman remains the oldest boxer ever to win a world heavyweight title, relinquishing the belt he won from Moorer at the age of 46.
Last day as champion
29 Jun 1995 16 Dec 2013 28 Nov 2015 8 Mar 2008 23 Sep 1952
Mike Tyson Floyd Patterson Muhammad Ali Joe Louis Jack Dempsey George Foreman
22 Nov 1986 30 Nov 1956 25 Feb 1964 22 June 1937 4 July 1919 22 Feb 1973
One of the youngest heavyweight champions
Foreman is also one of the youngest heavyweight champions of all time, with only five boxers having held a major belt at a younger age.
20Y 4M 23D 21Y 10M 26D 22Y 8D 23Y 1M 9D 24Y 10D 24Y 12D
25 Sep 1962 22 Jan 1973
2 minutes 6 seconds
5 minutes 26 seconds
Round 1
Round 2
Gordie Howe attended a training camp with the New York Rangers during World War II and was still playing at the top level in the 1980s. At the time of his retirement he was the all-time leader for appearances, goals and assists in the NHL. Howe’s career lasted so long that he was able to play alongside two of his sons in his final season.
Sport: Ice hockey
The 800 club
Howe remains one of only two players to score 800 goals in his NHL career, the other being the great Wayne Gretzky.
894 801 766 741 731
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Age at retirement: 52
Oldest player to score 100 points in a season
Not only is Howe the oldest player to make an appearance in the NHL (doing so a month shy of his 53rd birthday) he is also the only player to ever score 100 points in a season after the age of 40.
Gordie Howe Joe Sakic Johnny Bucyk Jean Ratelle Wayne Gretzky
1968-69 2006-07 1970-71 1975-76 1995-96
40 years, 6 months & 10 days 37Y, 2M, 27D 35Y, 4M, 27D 35Y & 4D 34Y, 8M, 10D
Age at start of season
In a fitting passing of the torch, Howe’s final all-star game in 1980 was Gretzky’s first.
Wayne Gretzky Gordie Howe Jaromir Jagr Brett Hull Marcel Dionne
A forty-year record
Patrick Marleau Gordie Howe Mark Messier Jaromir Jagr Ron Francis
Howe’s appearance record stood for over forty years until finally being bettered by Patrick Marleau in April 2021.
1,779 1,767 1,756 1,733 1,731
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When Phil Mickelson turned 33, he didn’t have a single major to his name but now, aged 50, he has six of golf’s top honours in his trophy cabinet, leaving him one win outside the all-time top 10.
Age: 50 (still active)
Sport: Golf
Oldest major winner
Mickelson made history at the 2021 PGA Championship, becoming the first golfer to win a major in his fifties.
Longest PGA winning span
Phil Mickelson Sam Snead Raymond Floyd Davis Love III Jack Nicklaus Tom Watson Macdonald Smith
Despite not winning a major until 2003, Mickelson clocked up his first win on the tour in 1991 as a 20-year-old amateur. His triumph at the PGA Championship in 2021 made him the first golfer to win PGA tournaments across a 31-year span.
31 years 30 30 29 25 25 25
Phil Mickelson Julius Boros Tom Morris Sr. Jack Nicklaus Jerry Barber
50 years, 11 months, 8 days 48Y, 4M, 18D 46Y, 3M, 10D 46Y, 2M, 23D 45Y, 3M, 6D
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2021 PGA Championship 1968 PGA Championship 1867 The Open Championship 1986 Masters Tournament 1961 PGA Championship
1991–2021 1936–1965 1963–1992 1987–2015 1962–1986 1974–1998 1912–1936
45 wins 82 22 21 73 39 25
Longest driver
Phil Mickelson Vijay Singh Charles Howell III Jim Furyk Billy Mayfair
Since his first full tour in 1993, Mickelson has driven over 690 miles, which is more than any other player in that time and further than the length of Great Britain. His average of 292.4 yards across those 29 years is better than any player had ever recorded in a single season before his debut
292.4 290.1 273.6 275.6 296.8
Average yards
694.0 miles in 4,177 drives 665.2 miles in 4,036 drives 651.2 miles in 4,189 drives 645.0 miles in 3825 drives 585.9 miles in 3,742 drives
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Martina Navratilova was already the most-decorated player of the Open Era when she first retired in 1995, aged 38. Not content with the contents of her glittering trophy cabinet, she returned in 2000 and went on to add a further three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles to her name. Her victory in the 2003 Australian Open mixed doubles made her just the third player in history to complete a "boxed set" of major titles by winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles at all four majors. This victory also made her the oldest major champion in tennis history, a record she extended by winning the 2006 US Open, just over a month before her 50th birthday.
Most titles in the Open Era
Navratilova has won more titles in the open era than any other player in singles, doubles and mixed doubles
354 189 147 133 126
Most WTA Championships in both singles and doubles
Navratilova has won more WTA Championships than any other player in both singles and doubles.
Sport: Tennis
Age at retirement: 49
Martina Navratilova Chris Evert Margaret Court Pam Shriver Rosemary Casals
167 157 92 21 11
177 32 48 111 112
10 0 7 1 3
Singles
Doubles
Mixed
TOTAL
She has won a staggering 354 titles in total, which is 165 clear of her nearest rival, Chris Evert
13
8
Steffi Graf
5
Doubles titles
Singles titles
Serena Williams
Chris Evert
4
Pam Shriver
10
Billie Jean King
Lisa Raymond
Over 50 major titles
Margaret Court Martina Navratilova Billie Jean King Serena Williams Margaret Osborne duPont
24 18 12 23 6
19 31 16 14 21
21 10 11 2 10
Only Margaret Court has won more major titles than Navratilova, who is 20 clear of Serena Williams and Billie Jean King in joint third place.
64 59 39 39 37
Dana Torres
Torres first represented the United States at the 1984 Olympic Games aged 17, winning a gold medal as part of the 4x100 metres freestyle team. She would end up becoming the first American swimmer to qualify for five iterations of the games and narrowly missed out on a sixth in 2012 at the age of 45. Over the course of her career she set world records in three events and won a total of 12 Olympic medals.
A glittering Olympic career
1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008
Returning from a seven-year absence from competitive swimming, Torres won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics, including two golds. This made her the oldest woman to win an Olympic medal in swimming, at the age of 33.
Sport: Swimming
Age at retirement: 45
Gold
Bronze
Silver
She also won three silver medals at the age of 41 in the 2008 games in Beijing.
Jenny Thompson Dara Torres Kornelia Ender Dawn Fraser Inge de Bruijn Allison Schmitt
No female swimmer has won more Olympic medals than Torres - she is one of only two to have reached double figures.
One of the most successful swimmers ever
1992–2004 1984–2008 1972–1976 1956–1964 2000–2004 2008–2016
8 4 4 4 4 4
3 4 4 4 2 2
1 4 0 0 2 2
12 12 8 8 8 8
A world record holder
Torres has held world records in three events:
53.51 53.62 54.40 55.08
50 metre freestyle
4x100 metre freestyle relay
4x100 metre medley relay
Two of the medley records were set at the 2000 Summer Olympics and both saw her complete her leg in the fastest time despite being the oldest member of her team.
Dana Torres Jenny Thompson Courtney Shealy Amy Van Dyken
Dana Torres Jenny Thompson Barbara Bedford Megan Quann
53.37 57.25 61.39 66.29
G
S
B
