Alex Tarics, 98

Alex Tarics, the world's oldest Olympic gold medalist at 98, has a hobby.

Most evenings, after his wife Elisabeth goes to bed, Tarics sits at the kitchen table in their Belvedere home and works on "unsolvable" mathematical equations. It's something he has done for fun since he sold his structural-engineering company in 1990.

Tarics has solved two or three of these unsolvable problems, attacking them from an engineering viewpoint rather than with standard mathematical methods.

"I am not a professional mathematician, I am a dilettante," Tarics says. "I am an engineer, so I can look at these problems differently and come to different conclusions. I do it for the love of the science."

Wisdom of a Champion

•  "You have to have a dream, something you want to accomplish. And then you have to work at it very, very hard. Mainly, you have to have willpower, which outlasts many years of hard work and disappointments."
•  "You cannot be a success unless you accept failures. If you think that when you lost something, it's all over and you give up, then you beat yourself. Don't let this happen."
•  "The willpower is the most important thing, and anybody has willpower in an inexhaustible supply. It's just how much of it a person uses."

Thanks to Scott Ostler who writes for the San Francisco Chronicle for sharing this wonderful story. Click the link below to read more:

"His Golden Years have lasted 76 Years"

Scott has mastery when it comes to the use of language. His pieces range the entire gamut.