PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — For her 50th birthday, Canadian curler Cheryl Bernard informed her husband that they would mark the occasion by hiking eight hours a day along Italy's rugged Amalfi coast. "Seriously?" he replied.
Seriously. Also unsurprising. After all, one year later, Bernard would become the oldest Olympian competing at the Pyeongchang Winter Games — an achievement that was not born of holidays spent knocking back margaritas poolside.
Bernard's story is a familiar one among this year's set of older Olympians, who credit consistency, better knowledge of nutrition and age-won wisdom for the longevity of their careers.