# Oldest world champion in any sport **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 9, 2024, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989 "2024-09-09T03:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/1 "2024-09-09T03:40:33Z")
Who is the oldest person to have won a world championship in any sport? For this discussion, the sport must include some sort of specialized physical skill (so, for example, darts would qualify, but chess would not). It should be one played by at least hundreds of people in at least, say, a half-dozen countries. “World championship” implies that competitors from multiple countries came together to compete and decide a winner - but the competition need not necessarily have that title: the Olympics would qualify. My Googling wasn’t much help: it mostly turned up lists of old champions in a limited number of well-known sports. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/2 "2024-09-09T04:01:48Z")
Oscar Swahn won a gold medal in a rifle competition at age 64 in the 1912 Olympics, and later won a silver in the 1920 Olympics at age 72, making him the oldest in both categories. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/3 "2024-09-09T04:41:20Z")
For the major US team sports: NFL - Tom Brady: 43 MLB - Jack Quinn: 46 NHL - Chris Chelios: 46 NBA - Robert Parish: 43 ---
**Author:** ![Skunkdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Skunkdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skunkdog)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/4 "2024-09-09T04:53:36Z")
George Foreman is the oldest man to win the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world at age 45 in boxing. Bernard Hopkins is the oldest In any weight class (light heavyweight) at age 46. Before these 2, the previous record holder was Bob Fitzsimmons at age 40, whose record held for 91 years. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/5 "2024-09-09T05:30:45Z")
It’s hard to imagine anyone topping this - I can’t think of any other sport that does involve physical skill, but does not advantage strength or agility - just concentration and steadiness. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/6 "2024-09-09T05:35:14Z")
- Nicholas Santos, Brazil won a record fourth world title in the 50m butterfly at age 42 - Ronnie O’Sullivan, England was 46 when he won his seventh World Snooker Championship in 2022 - Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentina, won his last F1 drivers at the age of 46 - Dino Zoff, Italy was the Azure’ goalkeeper when he won the World Cup aged 40. - Fred Davis, England. Won his 2nd World Billiards Championship when he was 67 ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/7 "2024-09-09T11:34:18Z")
Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship just shy of his 51st birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/8 "2024-09-09T20:31:16Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > Who is the oldest person to have won a world championship in any sport? So far, everyone is answering your post by citing the person who was the oldest when they won; however, the above sentence can be read to be looking for someone born in 1935 who won Olympic gold in 1956 & is now 89 years old which would be a totally different answer. Which were you looking for? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/9 "2024-09-09T20:40:07Z")
Efrin Reyes was 67 when he won his last 1 pocket championship. Not sure if that was a world title or not. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/10 "2024-09-09T21:46:58Z")
Moved to the Game Room (from FQ). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/11 "2024-09-09T21:51:43Z")
I’m not sure there’s precisely a “world champion”, but [Cliff Young](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Young_(athlete)) was a top-end ultramarathoner at age 62. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/12 "2024-09-10T15:56:20Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Which were you looking for? The oldest at the time they won a world championship. ---
**Author:** ![Jegpeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jegpeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jegpeg)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-world-champion-in-any-sport/1006989/13 "2024-09-11T22:56:15Z")
[Nick Skelton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Skelton) is up there. He won individual show jumping Gold at the Rio Olympics aged 58.