Swimming star Paco Dominguez is proving age is just a number, revealing his secret to staying in shape.
The Spaniard, who spent time in Venezuela before returning to Spain, didn’t swim until he was almost 70 years old. Despite this late start, Dominguez has shattered European records in the 100m, 200m, and 400m freestyle races, crediting the activity with keeping him youthful.
At 97, Dominguez claimed four medals at the recent Spanish Masters Championship in Oviedo. When questioned about retirement, Dominguez related his sporting passion to a Spanish legend. “I have to do like [Rafael] Nadal did,” he told EFE, as cited by Marca. “If the body can’t take anymore, then that’s when I’ll retire.”
Dedicated to his daily routine, Dominguez swims for an hour each morning, followed by a session of “weights, abs and stretches for 40 or 50 minutes” and capped off with an afternoon stroll. With an enviable haul of medals, Dominguez can’t imagine life without the pool.
“If I stop swimming for a couple of days, my bones already hurt,” he said. Dominguez even joked, “My life is water. I say that I will be reborn as a fish.”
The 97-year-old believes that it is not just his exercise regime that helps him stay in shape, though. For Dominguez, the most important factor is his positive mindset as he continues to compete and stay active. “Everyone lives, but you have to know how to do it positively and leave stress for others,” he told Heraldo last year.
Dominquez proudly represents the Master Madrid Swimming Club, coached by Felix Aldea, and refuses to let age or any limitations hold him back from competing. In the previous year’s Masters Championship, Dominguez completed an 800-metre swim in 25 minutes to applause from onlookers and relishes challenges like a 3,500-metre swim across the confluence of Orinoco and Caroni rivers.
He first took to the waters in Venezuela through a friend who was a swimming instructor. He thanks the country for helping him discover his love for the sport, which now forms a large part of his life. Describing himself as happy, the Spaniard is eager to share the benefits of daily swimming.
Speaking at the Masters Championships, Dominguez stated: “I have no problems; physically, you can see how I am. We all have problems; I have the ailments of old age. I don’t have the sight and hearing that young people do.”