Just reading about Birgit Fischer, the German canoeist. She competed in six Olympic games, winning golds at each and eight in total. And almost certainly the only thing that stopped her winning gold in seven consecutive games was the East German boycott in 1984. Amazing.
But what I really think is incredible is that she holds the records for the youngest ever Olympic canoe gold medalist, and also the **oldest **ever Olympic canoe gold medalist!
Are there any other examples of the same person holding both the “youngest” and the “oldest” records in their sport?
Even before opening this thread, I wanted to mention the guy your link mentions: the amazing Aladar Gerevich, who took home the gold in six consecutive Olympics over an even greater span of years, since WWII knocked out both the '40 and '44 competitions. So he did it in his twenties, and in his thirties, and in his forties, and in his fifties, twenty-eight years after his first visit. (And he even picked up a bronze medal in foil fencing along the way, because, hey, why not?)
Edgar Renteria drove in World Series-winning RBIs 13 years apart: an RBI single in 1997 with the Marlins, and a three-run homer in 2010 with the Giants. He was in his 2nd year in 97, and a 14 year vet last year.
George Foreman came close, winning the heavyweight boxing championship at the age of 23 and coming 1 fight away from another title bout at the age of 48.
George Foreman was the first guy I thought of, too - he’s the current oldest heavyweight champion, and was just shy of being the youngest (Floyd Patterson at the time, Tyson now). Boxing seems like it would be an ideal place to find a same person youngest/oldest champion, but the closest I could find was Joe Louis, youngest heavywieght champion (prior to Patterson), and the oldest to retire as champion at the time.
Surfer Kelly Slater is the youngest (20) and oldest (38) ASP (Pro Surfing Tour) champion. In addition, he was ranked 1st on the world tour in 1992 and 2010, plus a bunch of years in between, and is currently ranked 1st this year as well.