This Athlete Became a Light Heavyweight Champion at 46

Being an athlete often takes a tough toll on your body. The constant training, frequent injuries, and need to stay on top of your game can be challenging for most participants, but often more so for those older than the average age. Certain sports advocate youth, supporting younger athletes – like figure skating, and gymnastics – by touting age as a factor in success.

Many accomplished athletes aren't able to extend their careers past 40, with injuries being a major factor. Renowned athletes like Joe DiMaggio, Gale Sayers, Bo Jackson, Yao Ming, and Bobby Orr retired early due to repetitive injuries. Others decided to pursue different careers. (Even younger players have to sit out with injuries, like Luis Arraez who had to miss the 2024 All-Star Game due to a thumb injury.)

Jim Brown, who is considered one of the greatest running backs in history, had several NFL records in his nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns – most rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, and was a 3-time league MVP – left football the year he turned 30 to pursue a movie career. Hockey goaltender Ken Dryden called it a career in 1979 at age 31 after winning five Stanley Cups to continue his law studies.

But many individuals didn't get the memo that they were perhaps too old to play and not only continued but excelled. Drawing on statistics and data from the family of professional sports reference sources and including material from various professional sports websites and other media sources, 24/7 Tempo has put together a list of enduring athletes whose careers thrived into their 40s. (Then some are the most successful athletes of the 21st century.)

Athletes on this list were not only blessed with exceptional ability, they were lucky to have avoided injuries. Some of these athletes reached the apex of their sport after a late start, like boxer Eillen Olszewski, who became a professional pugilist in her 30s. Quarterback Warren Moon didn't arrive in the NFL until he was 28, and eventually led his league in passing yardage twice and played into his 40s.

Sportsmen like receiver Jerry Rice and pitcher Phil Niekro had some of their greatest seasons after they turned 40. Tom Brady has become the poster child for 40-year-old-plus athletes turning the clock back. He led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the 2021 Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs at age 43. (These are the rowdiest teams in the NFL.)

Here are enduring athletes whose careers thrived into their 40s.

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1954-1976
• Age when retired: 42
• Successes: Baseball Hall of Fame; hit 755 home runs; 1957 World Series winner

Aaron holds the record for runs batted in with 2,297; total bases with 6,856; and 25 All-Star Game appearances. He also performed well in the postseason, with a batting average of .362 with three home runs and nine runs batted in 17 games.

In 1957 he won his only world championship with the Milwaukee Braves and was the year he won his only Most Valuable Player award. Even more impressive was his grace under pressure while pursuing baseball's home-run record in the face of death threats from racists.

• Sport: Cycling
• Career: 2001-2012
• Age when retired: 48
• Successes: 3-time Olympic Gold Medalist, two-time World Champion; won 6 U.S. National Championships.

Armstrong overcame osteoarthritis in both hips in 2001, but had to give up one athletic pursuit – the triathlon – which enabled her to focus solely on cycling. She made history at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, coming out of retirement to win the gold medal in the women's individual time trial.

She became the first person to win three gold medals in the same event and was the oldest female cyclist to win an Olympic medal.

• Sport: Basketball
• Career: 1969-1989
• Age when retired: 41
• Successes: Basketball Hall of Fame; NBA all-time scorer; 6-time NBA champion; 19-time All-Star

When he was Lew Alcindor, his dominance in collegiate basketball caused the NCAA to rewrite the rules. Then he rewrote the record books, leading UCLA to three straight national championships. After his name change to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, his brilliance in the NBA continued and he became the sport's all-time scoring leader, winning six NBA championships.

He is the league's only six-time most valuable player and remains a prominent figure as an activist concerned with social justice.

• Sport: Football
• Career: 1949-1976
• Age when retired: 48
• Successes: Football Hall of Fame; 4-time Pro Bowl selection; 3-time AFL champion

Blanda had played a record 26 seasons in the NFL and scored the most points in history but some football fans will never forget the season he had in 1970. Substituting for the injured quarterback Daryle Lamonica, Blanda at age 43 led the Oakland Raiders to four wins and a tie over a five-game period via last-second touchdown passes or field goals.

He also became the oldest player to start a championship game later that year, accounting for all the points in Oakland's 27-17 loss to the Baltimore Colts.

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1986-2007
• Age when retired: 42
• Successes: All-time home run leader; 7-time NL MVP; 14-time All-Star

Barry Bonds is baseball's all-time home-run leader with 762 round-trippers. He also has seven Most Valuable Player awards, 12 seasons of 100 or more runs batted in, and 2,558 walks – the most of any player. When he turned 40 in 2004, he set baseball single-season records with 232 walks and a 1.421 OPS en route to his seventh NL MVP award.

But those numbers all come with an asterisk because of his involvement in the scandal with performance-enhancing drugs, which has kept the slugger from entry into baseball's Hall of Fame.

• Sport: Football
• Career: 2000-present
• Age when retired: 44 the first time; returned to professional football a few months later; 45 the second time
• Successes: 7-time Super Bowl winner; 3-time MVP; 5-time Super Bowl MVP; 15-time Pro Bowl selection

As a sixth-round pick by the New England Patriots in the 2000 draft, Tom Brady was not the most heralded quarterback to come into the NFL, but he certainly is now. Brady led the Patriots to six Super Bowl victories and was the MVP in four of them. He holds records for games won by a quarterback (263), most games started by a quarterback (343), most touchdown passes (661), and most passing yards (91,452).

• Sport: Hockey
• Career: 1983-2010
• Age when retired: 48
• Successes: Hockey Hall of Fame; 3-time Stanley Cup winner; 7-time All-Star

Chelios had an incredibly long career in the brutal sport of hockey. The Chicago-born Hall of Famer played for four teams over the course of 26 years. Along the way, he was a member of three Stanley Cup-winning teams – two with the Detroit Red Wings and one with the Montreal Canadiens.

• Sport: Gymnastics
• Career: 1988-2016
• Age when retired: 46
• Successes: Competed at 2016 Summer Olympics at age 41

In a sport that prizes young athletes, gymnastics legend Oksana Chusovitina had an almost unheard-of longevity in her career. She competed in eight Olympiads, including the Tokyo Games in 2021. Chusovitina competed in her first Olympic Games in 1992 for the Unified team, composed of athletes from the former Soviet Union.

She won a silver medal on the vault when she competed for Germany in 2008. Representing her native Uzbekistan, she received a standing ovation after her final performance at age 46 and was inducted into the Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2017.

• Sport: Football
• Career: 1984-2007
• Age when retired: 44
• Successes: 7-time Cy Young winner; 11-time All-Star; won pitching triple crown twice; 2-time World Series winner

Clemens' seven Cy Young awards are unmatched by any pitcher. He was in the top-10 Cy Young voting five other times in his career, with stints with the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays, the New York Yankees, and the Houston Astros. He is also one of just 11 hurlers who has won a Cy Young and a most valuable player award the same year, 1986.

The year he turned 43, Clemens led the National League with a 1.87 ERA in 2005. The accolades have not removed the taint from his involvement in the performance-enhancing drug scandal that has kept him out of baseball's Hall of Fame.

• Sport: Boxing
• Career: 1997-2011
• Age when retired: 47
• Successes: The only UFC fighter to win belts in both heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions

Former Olympic wrestler Randy Couture became the only UFC fighter to win belts in two divisions. After he was knocked out by Chuck Liddell in 2005, Couture retired. Then he returned to the ring and beat Tim Sylvia to win the heavyweight championship at age 43.

• Sport: Football
• Career: 1991-2010
• Age when retired: 41
• Successes: 1-time Super Bowl winner; 3-time MVP; 11-time Pro Bowl selection

Favre's exploits led the Green Bay Packers to their first NFL title in 30 years when they beat the New England Patriots in the 1997 Super Bowl. His reckless abandon did come with a price: he led the league in interceptions three times. Besides his reputation as a bomb-throwing quarterback, Favre is famous for retiring multiple times.

After his second retirement, the three-time MVP played for the Minnesota Vikings in 2009, the season he turned 40, and led them to the NFC Championship Game, where they lost to the New Orleans Saints.

• Sport: Tennis
• Career: 1998-2022
• Age when retired: 41
• Successes: 103 Singles titles; 20 total Grand Slam wins; ATP top-ranked player for five years

One of the greatest tennis players of all time, the Swiss star has won 103 singles titles, including 20 Grand Slams, 16 of which were singles championships, since turning pro in 1998. He's won more than $130 million in prize money during his career.

Federer has been recuperating from knee surgery and has expressed doubts about continuing his storied career this year – although his longtime coach, Ivan Ljubicic, has denied that he is ready to retire, he put his racket away in 2022.

• Sport: Boxing
• Career: 1969-1997
• Age when retired: 48
• Successes: Won boxing heavyweight title in 1973; regained the title in 1994 becoming the oldest man to win the crown at age 45

George Foreman won the boxing heavyweight gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, and paraded around the ring with a small American flag in his glove. Five years later, he knocked out heavyweight world champion Joe Frazier in an upset. In 1974, Muhammad Ali beat Foreman for the title.

Foreman retired in 1977 and returned to the ring at 38 years old. He regained the title after he knocked out Michael Moorer.

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1982-2007
• Age when retired: 48
• Successes: 3-time All-Star; won batting title in 1991

Franco played on three All-Star teams and won the 1991 batting title while playing for the Texas Rangers. The ageless native of the Dominican Republic played for six years for the Atlanta Braves and two years for the Mets after he turned 40. He hit over .300 in two of those seasons, played more than 100 games in four of those years, and finished his career with a lifetime batting average of .298.

• Sport: Football
• Career: 1983-2002
• Age when retired: 42
• Successes: Football Hall of Fame; 2-time Super Bowl winner; 7-time Pro Bowl selection

Defensive back Darrell Green is nicknamed "The Ageless Wonder," and with good reason. He played all of his 20 years in the NFL with Washington when the team was called the Redskins. The seven-time Pro Bowler was a key member of two of Washington's Super Bowl champions. Of his 54 career interceptions, Green returned six of them for touchdowns.

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1979-2003
• Age when retired: 44
• Successes: Baseball Hall of Fame; most stolen bases all time; 2-time World Series winner; 10-time All-Star; AL MVP

Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson is the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. The 10-time All-Star stole 1,406 bases in his 25-year career, the most ever. He led the league in thefts 12 times, and three times he swiped over 100 bases in one season. Though he played for nine teams, Henderson played most of his career with Oakland A's, where he won one of his two world championships.

• Sport: Hockey
• Career: 1946-1980
• Age when retired: 52
• Successes: Hockey Hall of Fame; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; 6-time Hart Trophy winner

Howe spent 25 years with the Detroit Red Wings, and was a part of four Stanley Cup champion teams. He won the Hart Trophy six times as the most valuable player in the NHL and led the league in scoring six times. Howe was on the NHL All-Star roster twice after the age of 40.

He played long enough to skate with sons Mark and Marty while playing for the Hartford Whalers for six seasons in the now-defunct World Hockey Association. Howe played his final season at age 52 when the Whalers joined the NHL.

• Sport: Boxing
• Career: 1988-2016
• Age when retired: 51
• Successes: Became oldest light heavyweight champion at 46; 56 victories

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1988-2009
• Age when retired: 45
• Successes: Baseball Hall of Fame; 5-time Cy Young winner; 2001 World Series championship; won more than 300 games; 10-time All-Star

• Sport: Track and field
• Career: 1994-2016
• Age when retired: 41
• Successes: Five-time Olympian (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016); won silver and bronze medal; at age 41, was the oldest member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1951-1973
• Age when retired: 42
• Successes: Baseball Hall of Fame; World Series winner; 24-time All-Star

• Sport: Hockey
• Career: 1978-2004
• Age when retired: 43
• Successes: Hockey Hall of Fame; 6-time Stanley Cup winner; 5-time All-Star

• Sport: Football
• Career: 1984-2000
• Age when retired: 44
• Successes: Football Hall of Fame; 9-time Pro Bowl selection

• Sport: Basketball
• Career: 1991-2009
• Age when retired: 42
• Successes: Basketball Hall of Fame; 8-time All-Star

• Sport: Tennis
• Career: 1973-2006
• Age when retired: 49
• Successes: Won 18 Grand Slam titles, including all-time record 9 at Wimbledon (also 4 US Opens, 3 Australian Opens and 2 French Opens)

• Sport: Golf
• Career: 1962-2003
• Age when retired: 65
• Successes: Won 73 PGA events; 18 Majors, including record 6 Masters championships

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1964-1987
• Age when retired: 48
• Successes: Baseball Hall of Fame; won more than 300 games; 5-time All-Star

Throwing the knuckleball helped Phil Niekro to have a 24-year career in professional baseball. "Knucksie" logged more than 300 innings four times in his career, during which he won 318 games. Amazingly, he posted 121 wins after he turned 40. Niekro won his 300th game at age 46, a four-hit shutout while pitching for the New York Yankees.

• Sport: Boxing
• Career: 2007-
• Age when retired: n/a
• Successes: At the age of 45, Olszewski became the oldest world flyweight champion, male or female, in 2013.

Eileen Olszewski, nicknamed "the Hawaiian Mongoose," is a former New York Knicks dancer who became a professional boxer at age 38. In 2008, a few months shy of her 40th birthday, she became the world's oldest professional flyweight boxer to win the world title. She would go on to lose the world title and regain the championship.

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1962-1983
• Age when retired: 44
• Successes: Baseball Hall of Fame; won more than 300 games; 2-time Cy Young winner; 5-time All-Star

Over a 22-year career, the righthander won 314 games, won 20 games or more five times, and won the Cy Young award twice, winning the award in each league.The North Carolina native pitched four years after he turned 40. He posted his 3,000th career strikeout two weeks after his 40th birthday and gained his 300th win three years later.

• Sport: Hockey
• Career: 1952-1975
• Age when retired: 46
• Successes: Hockey Hall of Fame; 6-time Stanley Cup winner; 7-time All-Star

Goaltender Jacques Plante was the gold standard of net-minders in the National Hockey League. He led the league in goals against average seven times and won the Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender. He was 42 years old when he last led the NHL in goals against average in 1970-71.

Plante also won the league's MVP award and the Hart Memorial Trophy in 1962, as well as winning six Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens. He won wherever he went, which included stints with the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and Edmonton Oilers.

• Sport: Football
• Career: 1985-2004
• Age when retired: 42
• Successes: Pro football Hall of Fame; 3-time Super Bowl winner; 13-time Pro Bowl selection

Jerry Rice was one of the greatest receivers in NFL history. Hooking up with San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young, the Hall of Famer caught 1,549 passes for 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns. Rice also set an NFL record of 76 career 100-yard receiving games. He was selected to 13 Pro Bowls, the last one in 2002 at age 40 with the Oakland Raiders, when he caught 92 passes for 1,211 yards.

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1963-1986
• Age when retired: 45
• Successes: All-time hits leader; 3-time World Series winner; 17-time All-Star

Rose was nicknamed "Charlie Hustle" for his relentless style of play, and over his 24-year career, most of which was with the Cincinnati Reds, he became baseball's all-time leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), and plate appearances (15,890). He was crucial to the success of the vaunted "Big Red Machine" Reds teams that won back-to-back world championships in 1975 and 1976.

At age 44 in 1985, he set the hits record for MLB. Rose has been denied entry to the Hall of Fame because he bet on baseball games he was involved in.

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1966-1993
• Age when retired: 46
• Successes: Baseball Hall of Fame; all-time leaders in strikeouts and no-hitters; 1969 World Series winner; 8-time All-Star

As a young flamethrowing pitcher with the New York Mets, Nolan Ryan was nicknamed "Ryan's Express." The Texan threw very hard and was very wild, which helped him intimidate hitters over a 27-year career. Ryan is the all-time leader in strikeouts with 5,714. He struck out more than 300 hitters six times, including 301 in 1989 when he was 42 years old. Just as remarkable is his seven career no-hitters, the most of any pitcher, authoring the last one in 1991, at age 44.

• Sport: Golf
• Career: 1931-2001
• Age when retired: 70
• Successes: 82 PGA Tour victories; 7 Majors wins;

Sam Snead's 82 PGA Tour victories has been equalled only by Tiger Woods. Snead won seven Majors but failed to win the career Grand Slam, with the U.S. Open eluding him. He won the 1954 Masters, his last Major, at age 41.

• Sport: Swimming
• Career: 1984-2008
• Age at end of career: 41
• Achievements: 12 Olympic medals; competed in 5 Olympics

The most decorated American swimmer ever, Dara Torres won 12 Olympic medals – four gold, four silver, and four bronze. She competed in five Olympiads, starting with the 1984 games in Los Angeles, where she won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay. In 2006, at age 41, she competed in the 50-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle and medley relays. She won a silver medal in the 50 free and gained silver in both relays.

• Sport: Golf
• Career: 1971-2019
• Age when retired: 69
• Successes: 39 PGA Tour victories; 8 Majors victories

• Sport: Baseball
• Career: 1939-1960
• Age when retired: 41
• Successes: Baseball Hall of Fame; last player to hit over .400; won triple crown twice; 19-time All-Star; won batting title 6 times

• Sport: Golf
• Career: 1996-
• Age when retired: N/A
• Successes: 82 PGA Tour victories; 18 Majors wins; youngest player to win Masters at age 21

• Sport: Hockey
• Career: 1983-2006
• Age when retired: 40
• Successes: Hockey Hall of Fame; 3-time Stanley Cup winner; 1-time All-Star; played all 22 years with Detroit Red Wings

• Sport: Golf
• Career: 1947-1955
• Age when retired: 44
• Successes: Won multiple LPGA championships. In 1954, she earned her sixth AP Female Athlete of the Year honor after winning the U.S. Women's Open