Fauja Singh created History by becoming the first person ever, over 100 years of age - to run a full marathon. He did that in Toronto Read details here
This was later not approved as a record by Guiness since he did not have a birth certificate issued in 1911. Read here. There were no birth certificates issued by Br India in those days in his village. He however now holds a British passport and the date of birth on his passport of 1998 is April 1st 1911.
I appreciate the fact that Guiness needs to go by the book but is this an organisation certifying world records or only Western records - especially when they need to go back in time, into Eastern countries.
This is a pity and such records are definitely worthy of further investigations by Guiness to ensure that inspirational feats are recorded as a priority for inspiring mankind forward rather than only 'feats' like having the most body piercings in one sessions and so on.
Acceptance or lack of it, may not mean much to Fauja Singh, but I definitely think it will mean a lot to an ageing world population and even for the younger folks on this planet, to be inspired, for generations to come. Perhaps if that is one of the goals of Guiness - then they certainly need to try harder to get more detail on the veracity of Fauja's age.
See a 3 yr old video of Fauja running - he only seems to get younger with age!!
This was later not approved as a record by Guiness since he did not have a birth certificate issued in 1911. Read here. There were no birth certificates issued by Br India in those days in his village. He however now holds a British passport and the date of birth on his passport of 1998 is April 1st 1911.
I appreciate the fact that Guiness needs to go by the book but is this an organisation certifying world records or only Western records - especially when they need to go back in time, into Eastern countries.
This is a pity and such records are definitely worthy of further investigations by Guiness to ensure that inspirational feats are recorded as a priority for inspiring mankind forward rather than only 'feats' like having the most body piercings in one sessions and so on.
Acceptance or lack of it, may not mean much to Fauja Singh, but I definitely think it will mean a lot to an ageing world population and even for the younger folks on this planet, to be inspired, for generations to come. Perhaps if that is one of the goals of Guiness - then they certainly need to try harder to get more detail on the veracity of Fauja's age.
See a 3 yr old video of Fauja running - he only seems to get younger with age!!
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