Author to discuss 93-year-old track star

Posted by Press Release on October 7, 2016

Penn State’s Great Valley campus is inviting the public to learn the secrets held by a 90-year-old track star.

Author Bruce will speak about his best seller on Tuesday, Oct. 11. — Author Bruce Grierson will discuss his best seller on Tuesday, Oct. 11.

Author Bruce Grierson will discuss his best seller, “What Makes Olga Run, The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives” on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. at Penn State Great Valley. Admission is free but tickets are required at https://olgaruns.eventbrite.com, according to a Penn State press release.

Olga Kotelko, one of the most decorated master athletes ever, will be remembered just as much for her contributions to science as for her exploits on the track. Kotelko let herself become a human guinea pig to shed light on optimal aging and the limits of human potential and allowed Grierson to document the findings. In this talk, he reveals what this extraordinary project unearthed on aging well.

Kotelko is not your average 93-year-old. She not only looks and acts like a much younger woman, she holds over 23 world records in track and field, 17 in the 90 to 95 age category. Convinced that this remarkable woman could help unlock many of the mysteries of aging, Grierson set out to uncover what drove her. In his book, he considers every piece of the puzzle, from her diet and sleep habits to how she scores on various personality traits, from what she does in her spare time to her family history, the release said.

She participated in tests administered by some of the world’s leading scientists and offered her DNA to groundbreaking research trials. What emerged is not only a tremendously uplifting personal story but also a look at the extent to which health and longevity are determined by inherited DNA, and the extent to which that inheritance can be shaped.

Grierson is a five-time Canadian National Magazine Award-winning feature writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Popular Science, Eighteen Bridges, The Walrus, Psychology Today, Time Magazine, Scientific American, The Guardian, and elsewhere. He is the author of U-Turn, co-author (with Kalle Lasn) of Culture Jam, and author most recently of What Makes Olga Run? He lives in Vancouver with his wife and two daughters.