It took Vasili Krapivin 50 seconds to swim 25 meters during an open tournament in Sochi, Russia, having had the category “100 years or older” added to the swimming championships program especially for him. Born in 1912, he worked in the coal mines from the age of 18, graduated from the Tomsk Polytechnical Institute in 1936, but was sent to labor camps for 20 years for anti-Soviet propaganda, unable to ever find out specifically what he was imprisoned for, with no trial and all. Mining gold an tine ore in Kolyma, Siberia, meeting his quota fully, he would receive the full ration of 900 grams of bread, which enabled him to survive. “They have 12 months of winter there, and the rest of the time it’s summer”, the 100-year-old swimmer said about his imprisonment, with a laugh.
And by the way, he believes there is no special secret to long life: You just have to get up every morning at 6:00 a.m., run down to the sea, take a swim, and run back again.
Hats off to Krapivin!
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