69-year-old Monroe woman wins gold in National Senior Games
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69-years-old and Liz Sharp still has it.
"I qualified for the Olympic trials when I was in college, and the day before I was to compete, I slipped and fell and I injured myself so severely I was done," says Sharp.
Going to the Olympics was Sharp's life-long dream. That accident crushed her dreams then, but almost 40 years later a commercial about the Senior Olympics inspired her to try once again.
"I didn't have a javelin, I didn't have a shot put, I didn't have a discus. In the meantime, I went down to Wal-Mart and got a weight and I tried to throw that," said Sharp.
With only two weeks of training, she ended up qualifying for the National Senior Games that were only six months away.
"Everyday there was an obstacle that had the opportunity to make us quit, but we were determined," said Sharp.
So determined, she ended up winning three medals, the gold, the silver, and the bronze. But, facing obstacles was nothing new for Sharp.
"I was with the first full platoon of women to come through the military police school," said Sharp.
She said the hazing got so bad, she had to do 140 push ups because she would not admit to her drill sergeant that the lousiest solider was better than a woman.
"They hated that women were there, but seeing him abuse me, it united the whole company behind the women's cause," said Sharp.
Breaking barriers, and achieving her dreams forty years later.
"I hope that this will encourage people to revisit the dreams that they had and that they have given up," said Sharp.
Proving age is just a number, her new dream is to break two American records.