"When Austrian snowboarder Benjamin Karl crossed the finish line in the men's parallel giant slalom last weekend, he did what any testosterone-fueled athlete might upon realizing he'd just won Olympic gold: He ripped off his shirt and emitted a primal scream as he flexed for the crowd. Depending on your perspective, this display was made either more impressive or more embarrassing by the fact that Karl is 40 years old-positively ancient by competitive snowboarding (and shirt-ripping-offing) standards."
"Karl's children may well have cringed to see their ol' dad go topless in public. But, for me, the moment stands as the defining symbol of what I've come to think of as the Old Guy Olympics. Moreso than other Olympics I've covered, the Milan Cortina Games boast an unusually high number of athletes who are "too old for this shit" in the best possible way."
"There's Karl, whose parallel giant slalom gold was his fourth Olympic medal over the course of five Winter Games. There's 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn, whose scary crash in the downhill last weekend ended a comeback bid that, despite what some critics have claimed, was far from a vanity project: She's the top-ranked female skier in the current World Cup downhill standings."
Benjamin Karl, a 40-year-old Austrian snowboarder, won the men's parallel giant slalom, ripped off his shirt, and emitted a primal scream while flexing for the crowd. The Milan Cortina Games feature an unusually high number of older competitors performing at elite levels. Some older Olympians traditionally represent non-medal nations and aim simply to finish, exemplified by Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe. Several veteran athletes at Milan Cortina are medal contenders and top performers, including Karl (his fourth Olympic medal across five Winter Games) and 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn, who was top-ranked in current World Cup downhill standings before a crash.
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