Former Olympic gold medalist Daley Thompson stresses fitness for aging well at Turkish wellness event

​​​​​​​By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

AYDIN (AA) - Daley Thompson, the former decathlete with two Olympic gold medals and four world records, spoke to Anadolu on Friday about staying healthy as one gets older.

Thompson, who attended the "Wellness Weekend with Olympic Medalist Athletes" in Aydin's Didim in Western Türkiye, stated the importance of continuing to practice at an older age. "I think it's more important than ever (to exercise) because even though you start as a very fit person, as you get older you lose the ability to do things and just ordinary things like undo bottles and get up off the floor and those kinds of things so you have to keep practicing the fundamentals," he said.

The 66-year-old also pointed out how intensively scientific data is used in today's sport. "I think it's (sports) evolved quite a lot, there's a lot more scientific evidence now that eating healthily and that exercising and moving regularly is really beneficial not only to a long life but a good life."

The former English decathlete also highlighted the challenges young people face in staying healthy.

"I think having said that, they (young people) face a lot of challenges. I think it's been made easier because there's a lot more knowledge and it's easier to find the knowledge, you just go on your phone and you say what's the healthy food and big long list, but you have to be able to differentiate between the good information and the bad information," he said.

Thompson stressed the importance of having a strong mind to be successful at the Olympic level. "I think when you're an Olympic athlete, when you're at the top level. Everybody has a good body and in order to make the next step you need a good mind and so for me it was the most important thing," he said.

The British veteran also spoke about the racism his friends experienced during his time as an active athlete.

"I was very lucky (for not being a subject to discrimination) but I would say that a lot of my friends who are black, they would talk about the racism and discrimination that they faced but I think I was very fortunate and I was very single minded so when I say I used to train every day I mean I was busy every day so never had the opportunity to get into any kind of trouble," he said.

Thompson said he was always surprised that Turkish people are so friendly.

"I've been to Türkiye maybe 10 times or maybe 10 or eleven times, and I'm always surprised, in a good way, how friendly people in Türkiye are and I know like every country you have problems, politics, but essentially the Turkish people, they are very warm and the hospitality is fantastic so very nice,” he added.