Hidekichi Miyazaki, a 105-year-old Japanese man, claimed the Guinness World Record this week when he sprinted the 100-meter dash in 42.22 seconds, a first for his age category, at the Kyoto Masters Autumn Competition.
Called the "Golden Bolt" after Jamaican world record-holding sprinter Usain Bolt, Miyazaki said it is his dream to run against the
Olympian, Agence France-Presse reported.
"I would still love to compete against him," Miyazaki said. "Two or three years ago Bolt came to Japan and said he wanted to meet me. There was a call about it but I was out and he left without meeting me. I felt deeply sorry."
Miyazaki told CNN that he wants to better the next time he runs the 100 meter. The centenarian said that he practices every day at a nearby park.
"I want to make it in 35 to 36 seconds," he said.
Miyazaki's daughter Kiyono said that her father has ignored advice from his doctors warning him that running is too much for someone his age.
"He is an amazing individual," Kenji Iwanami, secretary-general of the Kyodo Masters competition, said. "His mind is clear and he manages his condition perfectly."
Miyazaki was the ultimate "late bloomer" with running, not taking up track and field until he was 93, more than 30 years after he retired from work in an agricultural cooperative, his daughter told CNN. Before then, he played Japanese chess and practiced calligraphy.
But why running? Because "it's cool," he told CNN.
Miyazaki appears to have won plenty of fans on social media, who also think he's pretty cool.
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