Lulled by clichés about “serene” old people, I had assumed that attachment to life diminishes with age. But here was an extreme example of the opposite: an ancient man fending off death with javelin and discus. It was this—the urge to stay on his feet at all costs—that drove his athletic achievements. “The most important thing of all is to stay supple and flexible,” he said. “The moment you will be most stiff is when you die—you never get stiffer than that. So you’ve got to sleep well, eat well, and keep moving.” And all of this made the facts of his eventual death all the more pitiful.
