Eliana Busch, the tireless Chilean swimmer, wins new medals at almost 90 years old

She has just won several medals at the World Masters Championships in Doha, Qatar. And she doesn’t plan to stop. “I like to win, and as long as I win, I will swim,” she said after this new victory.

Eliana Busch, 89 years old, almost 90, has just won several medals during an international competition in March in Doha, Qatar. This Chilean is not a swimmer like the others. She has been swimming almost since she could walk. At 13, she was already a champion in Chile. But finally, at the age of 20, she married a cavalry officer and her passion for horses. She leaves the big pool to get into the saddle and swaps her swimsuit for a bomber jacket and boots. Horse riding is an area in which she also excels, until the day she falls while trying to tame a foal. She breaks her arm, her collarbone and a few ribs. She was only 78 years old at the time.

“Don’t stay lying at home, life is lived until the last minute”

So after this accident, Eliana Busch started swimming again for a living. She has another series of victories in the pools, in her category, that of seniors. Despite her pacemaker, she almost always finishes first, like in 2018 at the Pan American Championships, in 2019 at the World Championship in South Korea. And she is still a medalist at the beginning of March 2024, at the world championships in Doha.

This last competition was a little special, because that day, her rivals did not show up and Eliana Busch was forced to break records to prove that even when she swims alone, she is the best. “I like to win, and as long as I win, I will swim”she declares. Besides, perhaps she will continue even if she starts to lose? Because what she wants above all is to send a message to seniors like her: “you don’t have to be swimmers, but do something, don’t just lay around the house. Because life is lived until the last minute”.