NARASHINO, Japan – As the world’s top swimmers prepare for the Rio Olympics, a sprightly Japanese centenarian insists she will still be smashing records by the time the 2020 Tokyo Games roll around.

Closing in on her 102nd birthday, Mieko Nagaoka has racked up a slew of jaw-dropping world bests in her age bracket after only taking up swimming in her late eighties, but warns she is not done yet.

“I’m fit as a fiddle,” Nagaoka told AFP in an interview after completing the 400 metres freestyle in 26 minutes, 16.81 seconds at a Japan Masters Swimming Association competition in Chiba, on the outskirts of Tokyo.

“The secret is to eat well and stay active. It’s no good sitting around at my age. I want to keep swimming until I’m 105 – and beyond that,” added the Yamaguchi native, who has lived through 22 Olympics to date.

Nagaoka, who swam the race backstroke sporting a white cap and dashing black and gold swimsuit, finished well over 17 minutes behind the winner, 80-year-old Etsuko Azumi.

Hard of hearing, Nagaoka failed to hear the roar of the crowd after completing the eight-lap race and attempted to return for a ninth before being fished out by judges as nervous medics watched on.

“It was just another race,” smiled Nagaoka after changing into a pink jacket and matching hat.

“Swimming makes me happy, that’s what I love about it,” she added. “When I’m swimming I’m in my own little world.” Along with 105-year-old sprinter Hidekichi Miyazaki, another geriatric record breaker, Nagaoka is blazing a trail for Japan’s turbo-charged pensioners in a country with one of the world’s highest life expectancies.

Nonetheless, Nagaoka’s time was well outside her world record of 16:36.80 set two years ago.

Her rivals had long dried off and were talking by the side of the pool when Nagaoka finally touched to thunderous applause. But she struck a defiant tone.

“I want to keep swimming as fast as I can,” said Nagaoka, who owns world records in the women’s 100-104 age division in nine events, including the 1,500m freestyle – a distance most people of her venerable age would struggle to walk.

“I’ll keep going for as long as I’m alive.” Born in 1914, days after the outbreak of World War I, when Japan fought on the side of the allies, Nagaoka’s rambunctious lust for life continues to astound her family and coaches.

“Her attitude to life is totally scandalous,” said her 76-year-old son Hiroyuki.

“She refuses to live life by the correct rules. She eats only the finest food and turns her nose up at anything she doesn’t fancy.

“You’re supposed to slow down with age, but she was getting quicker with age in her nineties, breaking record after record,” he added.

“That sense of joy and purpose in life is the secret to her long life.” Nagaoka still trains three times a week in Yamaguchi, southwest Japan, under the tutelage of long-time coach Shintaro Sawada.

“At first I thought she was joking about swimming until 100, but she was deadly serious,” said 41-year-old Sawada.

“I’ve never met anyone like her – she eats when she wants and sleeps when she wants. She has a very stubborn streak and fierce determination.” Perched beside his mother, the younger Nagaoka beamed with pride.

“She’s amazing,” said Hiroyuki. “Mentally she’s still very sharp. She’s the world’s greatest mum!”

NEW YORK – Pop superstar Katy Perry re-emerged Friday after a quiet spell with a song of unity as part of the television coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The singer – one of the most successful artists of her generation – offered her first new music since her blockbuster 2013 album “Prism” with the song “Rise.”

A midtempo electronic track, “Rise” takes on a triumphant tone befitting sports competitions, a change from the giddier pop feel of Perry’s biggest hits.

“When you think the final nail is in / Think again / Don’t be surprised / I will still rise,” Perry sings on the song.

The song will feature in the coverage of the Olympics opening ceremony on August 5 on NBC television, which has the lucrative contract to broadcast the Summer Games in the United States.

A video for “Rise” produced with NBC will also appear before movies in more than 20,000 cinemas across the United States, her label said.

Perry said the song had been “brewing” inside her for years but that she saw it as timely in light of troubles around the world.

“I was inspired to finish it now, rather than save it for my next album, because now more than ever, there is a need for our world to unite,” she said in a statement.

“I know that together we can rise above the fear – in our country, and around the world.

“I can’t think of a better example than the Olympic athletes, as they gather in Rio with their strength and fearlessness, to remind us how we ALL can come together, with the resolve to be the best we can be.”

Perry released the song Friday as an exclusive on Apple’s iTunes and the tech giant’s streaming service Apple Music.

At age 31, Perry has already achieved phenomenal success and is the most followed person on Twitter, with more than 90 million followers.

She has released a string of viral singles including “Roar,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).”

But Perry has had a comparatively quiet 2016 as she works on a new album.

She finished a 151-date global tour in October last year in Costa Rica, although she has since then performed to support Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Fifty years ago, one of the most famous goals in football history separated the two nations in the World Cup final.

Twenty-four years later, the lottery of penalty kicks saw revenge exacted in the 1990 World Cup semi-finals.

In 1996, the penalty-kick roulette was repeated again, as hosts England lost to Germany at the semi-finals of the European Championship.

In four months’ time, the historic football rivalry between England and Germany will come alive again – this time, at Singapore’s very own National Stadium at Kallang.

Yesterday, Masters Football Asia announced the match, dubbed the “Battle of Europe”, between veterans from previous Three Lions and Die Mannschaft sides.

The 80-minute, 11-a-side match will take place on Nov 12.

The game will be held on the 50th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup final, where hosts England beat then West Germany 4-2 after extra time.

CONTROVERSY

In one of the most iconic football matches in history, Geoff Hurst became the first, and still only player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, with debate still raging among both camps over whether his second strike had crossed the line.

While the full line-ups of both teams have yet to be confirmed, organisers yesterday named five players on each side who are pencilled in to play.

England’s attack will be spearheaded by former Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United star Teddy Sheringham.

The 50-year-old will be joined by ex-Liverpool and Real Madrid winger Steve McManaman, another former Spurs man Darren Anderton, ex-Liverpool striker Emile Heskey and 59-cap defender Des Walker.

All five have history with Germany.

Sheringham, McManaman and Anderton all played in England’s loss on penalties to Germany in the 1996 European Championship semi-finals.

Walker was on the team that pushed Germany all the way to penalties six years earlier, at the 1990 World Cup, only to falter in a shoot-out as well.

Heskey tasted victory against the deadly rivals, when he scored one and set up another in England’s famous 5-1 hammering of the Germans in a World Cup qualifying match in Munich in 2001.

HONOUR

Said Sheringham: “Representing England is always a great honour and my games with the team have all been so memorable.

“It’s a brilliant opportunity for us to get together and play for England again, especially against such a great team like Germany.

“I’m really looking forward to it.”

The Germans hardly lack stardust themselves.

Lothar Matthaeus, with a record 150 caps for his country, is set to be the first Fifa World Player of the Year to strut his stuff at the National Stadium, which was reopened in mid-2014.

Also likely to appear are fellow World Cup 1990 winners Thomas Haessler and Guido Buchwald, former Bayer Leverkusen defender Jens Nowotny, and ex-Liverpool and Newcastle midfielder Dietmar Hamann.

One of Hamann’s most memorable moments in a German shirt was a stunning winner from 32 metres, which helped his country overcome England 1-0 at Wembley in a World Cup qualifier in 2000.

FANTASTIC

A former columnist with The New Paper, Hamann, who has featured regularly in exhibition matches here over the years, said: “It’s always fantastic to come back and hopefully I can be of even more advantage to the team, given my previous experiences in Singapore.

“I can’t wait to be on the pitch again and face off against Steve (McManaman), instead of playing alongside him at the National Stadium.”

Even though Masters events are usually six-a-side games played indoors, recent 11-a-side exhibition matches played here have proven a hit with fans.

Local fans packed the 7,500-capacity Jalan Besar Stadium in 2014 to watch the Liverpool beat an ex-Singapore international side 3-1, and last year, 27,000 turned up to watch Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-0 at the National Stadium.

Steve Black, chief executive officer of Masters Football Asia, said: “We are very grateful to have achieved such success in Singapore and we’re always looking at ways to up the ante and to create exciting content for football fans.

RIVALRY

“Inspired by the recently concluded European Championship, we thought we would bring an internationally renowned football rivalry to the Singapore National Stadium to thank the public for the great support they have given us over the years.”

msazali@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on July 15, 2016.
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