How 40s has become the new 30s for elite sportsmen

A 41-year-old James Anderson was part of the England team that won the fifth Ashes Test to draw the series. Japan's Kazuyoshi Miura, affectionately known as "King Kazu", is still playing club football in Portugal at 56. When NFL star Tom Brady, widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all-time, retired earlier this year, he was 45. 

They are among many others who have shown why you cannot simply label any athlete as "old" or "finished" when they are in their late thirties or forties. The peaks are longer now, the average age of players is higher and they are retiring much later than expected. 

This is a claim backed by data as well. The batting average of cricketers aged 35 or higher in Test cricket since 2010 has been 36.6 which is higher than that in the 2000s (35.34) and the previous three decades as well. Also, the average of batters aged 35 or higher is much higher than the mean batting average (30.75) since 2010.

England's Fred Trueman, after reaching the milestone of 300 Test wickets as the first bowler, said, "Whoever does this will be very tired." When Trueman played his last Test, he was 33. His compatriot Anderson, a modern-day great, has taken 277 Test wickets after turning 33, just 30 less than Trueman's career tally of 307.

The current Ballon D'Or winner Karim Benzema will turn 36 later this year. In the 2021/22 season, Robert Lewandowski and Ciro Immobile, well into their thirties, were top-scorers of the Bundesliga and Serie A respectively. A 35-year-old Lionel Messi was adjudged the World Cup's best player last year and is a runaway favourite for an eighth Ballon D'Or at 36.

LeBron "King" James, one of basketball's all-time greats, had his third-highest scoring game last year at the age of 37. He was the first NBA player to have a 50-point game before the age of 21 and after 35.

Pete Sampras is tennis' greatest-ever player according to many. When he played his last game in the 2002 US Open final, he was 31. But at present, there are as many as 21 tennis players aged 30 or over in the ATP top 100 rankings.

These players used to be anomalies before, but not anymore. 190 cricketers aged 35 or higher have featured in international cricket this year. A lot of older players are showing no signs of slowing down in Europe's top football leagues. Science and data have ensured athletes now have longer and more prolific careers.

Training and recovery are two major factors influencing the performance of athletes and extensive research has made sure players now train in an efficient way and recover quickly. 

Instead of the old-school approach of strenuous training, athletes now have adopted a more structured approach which favours moderate-intensity training. Researchers found out that athletes are often injuring themselves while training and that's why they are now promoting "polarised training" where there is less chances of burnout during training. 

"We've known for decades that if you train too hard, the body breaks down," said Thomas Best, a professor of orthopedics at the Miller School of Medicine, and a team physician in the Department of Athletics. "Now, we're much more specific in terms of load management."

The use of data is now helping teams give specific roles to players. It is saving the energy of the players and time-efficient practice is bringing the best out of them. This is why, in cricket, we often see bowlers completing their full quota of overs in a specific phase. Batters also have favourable entry points and they train according to what the analysts suggest.

Apart from efficient training and quicker recovery, change in diet and lifestyle is another important factor. For instance, Tom Brady used to consume a diet consisting of a balance of 80% "alkaline" foods and 20% "acidic" foods in order to reduce systemic inflammation. 90% of Virat Kohli's diet consists of foods that are steamed or boiled. 

"The weirdest thing I came across was a nutritionist who works with a lot of famous athletes. He does blood tests that are supposed to identify the five foods that are most compatible with your immune system. Then you limit your diet to those five foods," said Jeff Bercovici, the author of the book, "Play On: The New Science of Elite Performance at Any Age."

Better injury management contributes to prolonging athletes' careers as well. Players can now even return to professional sports after an ACL reconstruction surgery which was unimaginable in the past.

"It's the upgraded and updated training they are integrating into their sports that's also helping them. And that is particularly true for [Tom] Brady. For the past few years, he's dedicated himself to wholesome nutrition, eating better foods, and training the mind and body holistically. And that, combined with his skills, which we know are stellar, has enabled him to continue that much longer in his sport," wrote Arlette Perry, professor and chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences at the University of Miami School of Education and Human Development, after a 43-year-old Brady won his seventh Super Bowl title in 2021.

And with age, you gain something called experience. If you can manage to stay fit in your late 30s and 40s, you can have a pretty good career at the top-level. "Playing at 40, you've gone through every scenario in your life and you are able to quickly work out what's going to work and what isn't," said Brad Hodge, who played international cricket and the IPL at 39 and in other franchise leagues in his 40s.

The physical wear and tear is now less. The injuries now are better-managed. Players and supporting staff now know more about training and nutrition. And with science and technology becoming more advanced, we will surely see more and more athletes extending their careers and maximising their experience.