Why Swimming Is the Ageless Sport

Ariel Levy:

Steven Munatones, the director of the World Open Water Swimming Association, told me, “If you run, eventually your joints give out. In basketball, you can dunk at 22 but probably not at 42, and certainly not at 62” ... Swimming is different: “If you are inclined to, you can do it until the day you die. Marathon swimmers aren’t Michael Phelps. They are not being measured on aerobic capacity. If Diana [Nyad]’s aerobic capacity decrease, she just slows down.”