SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A 100-year-old California man is showing age is only a state of mind after he broke five world records at the San Diego Senior Olympics.
Don Pellmann, of Santa Clara, California, Pellmann competed for 4 1/2 hours at San Diego Mesa College on Sunday in the games. He turned 100 in August, and hadn't competed in two years.
Pellmann set records for high jump, long jump, the 100-meter dash, shot put and discus.
His only disappointment came in the pole vault, where he failed to clear his opening height of 3-1 3/4. He had gotten over the bar in warmups.
Bill Harvey lent Pellman his discuss, which he used to set the new world record.
"Heck, I may save that discus and try to throw it when I'm 100 — if I get that lucky," Harvey told the Times of San Diego, who coached track at Occidental College for 20 years.
New York Times sports columnist Karen Crouse followed Pellman around for the day.
She asked: "Why do you do this?"
He answered: "Somebody has to do it."
Pellman told Crouse he was still made he didn't do better with the pole vault.
"It's a poor day because I should have got that pole vault, too," he said. "And I should have had better marks on most of these [others]. But I'm glad I got the 100 record — that's the one I wanted the most."
Sunday wasn't the most world records for Pellmann in a single meet. In 2005, at age 90, he set seven age-group records at a two-day meet in Colorado.
WSBTV
