SANTA SUSANNA, Spain (The Thursday Times) — Toshisuke Kanazawa is 90 years old, and on Friday he was on a bodybuilding stage in Spain, flexing under the lights against rivals decades younger.
The Japanese competitor entered the masters category for athletes aged 50 and over at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation’s world fitness championships in the coastal town of Santa Susanna. Backstage he went through the same routine as everyone else, warming up with his team and applying spray tan.
He did not reach the podium, but said he wanted to keep at the sport for the rest of his life. “I like to try doing things that nobody else has done,” he said.
Kanazawa puts his condition down to diet. He says he has built muscle since the age of 50 on traditional Japanese food, namely brown rice, natto, a fermented soya bean dish, and miso soup, and that he has gone 90 years without ever getting sick.
He is already thinking about the end. “I might give it one more go at 93,” he said, adding that he would probably have to retire after that. He said he hoped to be a role model who shows older people what determination can do.
