For West Vancouver super senior Olga Kotelko, winning never gets old.

In August the 90-year-old travelled to Lahti, Finland for the World Masters Athletics Championships and when she returned home she brought with her eight new world records and 11 gold medals.

Well, actually, not all the medals made it home. Kotelko -- who holds many records and championship titles in the 80-and-over, 85-and-over and now 90-and-over age groups -- is known to hand out her medals to people she meets as she goes about her inspirational life. One of her gold souvenirs from Finland is already on someone else"s neck: the captain of the cruise ship she sailed in on her return voyage.

"He"s the captain. Who else? Why not?" Kotelko said with a laugh when the North Shore News caught up with her after the world championships. "When I got on the ship the captain was Canadian and that"s why I gave him a gold medal. He was totally taken aback by it. He was surprised that anybody would do that -- but that"s what I do with my medals, I don"t keep them."

Kotelko"s new world records in the 90 age group include high jump, triple jump, long jump, weight throw, javelin, discus, the 200-metre race and the throwing pentathlon. Her other golds came in the hammer throw, shot put and 100-m race.

"I did well," she said, adding that she was feeling "just exuberant" following the competition, which saw her compete in 11 events in eight days. In some of the events Kotelko was the only competitor but in others there were challengers that she got the best of. Her world record javelin throw of 13.54 m was more than six metres past her nearest opponent"s throw, while her discus toss of 13.92 m, also a world record, was 1.37 m past her closest rival.

She"ll be back at it soon, too. The B.C. Seniors Games are Sept. 16-19 in Richmond and, following that, Kotelko is scheduled to travel to Sydney, Australia for the World Masters Games in October. While adding eight world records to her collection was nice, Kotelko hinted that she"s not done yet. "I still have some to go," she said, adding that the record that is on top of her hit list is the clocking for the 400-m race.

One day after returning home from Finland Kotelko was hard at work, practicing her sprints on the track at West Vancouver secondary.

Here are the new records Kotelko set in the 90-and-over category at the World Masters Athletics Championships, according to the website www.world-masters-athletics.org:

- High jump, 0.82 m

- Triple jump, 4.02 m

- Weight throw, 6.49 m

- Javelin, 13.54 m

- 200 m, 56.46

- Discus, 13.92 m

- Long jump, 1.77 m

- Throwing pentathlon, 5,905 points.

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Prior to heading to Finland for the World Championships, Kotelko took part in the Canadian championships held in July in Kamloops and she was joined by a team of talented North Shore masters.

North Vancouver"s Lenore Montgomery finished first in the women"s 75-and-over 10,000-m run, 5,000-m run and 800-m run.

Barry Adams of Bowen Island finished first in the men"s 65-and-over outdoor pentathlon.

West Vancouver"s John Hawkins finished first in the men"s 60-and-over weight pentathlon.

North Vancouver"s Doreen McLeod-Smith finished first in the women"s 80-and-over hammer throw and discus, and second in the 100-m dash, 200-m dash, shot put and javelin.

Christa Bortignon of West Vancouver finished second in the women"s 70-and-over long jump and third in the 100-m dash.

Kotelko scored gold in the 90-and-over weight pentathlon, 100-m dash, long jump and triple jump. She was also inducted into the Canadian Masters Athletics Hall of Fame at a ceremony held during the championships.

aprest@nsnews.com
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