Martin Garhart

Returning to the Senior Olympics after a four year hiatus paid off for Powell athlete Martin Garhart, as he brought home four gold medals and one silver in five track and field events from Cheyenne in June to qualify for every event at next year’s nationals in the 80-84-year-old division.

COMPETING IN CHEYENNE

Competing in Wyoming for the Senior Olympics brings a number of challenges, as Wyoming is considered an “open” state that allows competitors from other states to attend and qualify for the national championships via Wyoming’s qualifying.

“The men who I’m competing against, just like me, they’ve been doing athletics their whole lives,” Garhart said. “They didn’t just say ‘I’m 80, I think I’ll run the 100.’ No, these guys are athletes.”

The first race Garhart took part in was the 100 meters, which he ended up taking late in the race after chasing down a competitor from Colorado and passing him with around 20 meters to go.

Following that, he competed in the 50 meters, which proved to be too short of a race to overcome his Colorado competition as he took second in the event.

“In the 100, I tore one of my groin muscles, it’s black and blue right now. But that’s not an excuse. He’s still fast off the line,” Garhart said. “I don’t know if I would have caught him if I’d had 30 more yards. I think I could have, but who knows.”

Finishing the races on the track with the 200 meters, Garhart was able to catch his competition to take gold, but felt there was room for improvement.

“That was a long enough race that I could do it. But none of my times were fast for me, I should have done more but I was hurting,” Garhart said. “But that’s OK, that’s what athletes do. I suspect out there half of us were hurting.”

There was a little bit of uncertainty if Garhart would throw at the Senior Olympics, but he was able to get enough to take the top spot in the shot put and discus.

“When I was practicing the shot, it sort of tore my elbow, and then I thought I’m not going to do this,” he said. “When I got to Cheyenne I said ‘you know, I’m going to do it. I think I can throw it.’ So I did. I got one good throw, which was enough to win it.”

In between his running events Garhart competed in his throwing events, taking the top spot in both the discus and the shot put.

“In the discus you get five throws, I threw one just a standing reversal, and then I threw three out of bounds during my spin. I just didn’t have it, so I did another reversal, but my reversal was good enough to put me in first place,” Garhart said.

While competing in the discus, Garhart was faced with a pleasant surprise, as he learned he had been practicing with a heavier shot the entire time.

“I didn’t realize that at 80 you go to three kilograms … So that was probably why I was able to do that,” he said.

Garhart said pickleball is now the largest event at the Senior Olympics, so he felt as if there were less athletes at the track and field events, but there were also competitions in Casper and Rock Springs for state events this year so all of the Senior Olympics events were held around Wyoming at the same time.

CONTINUED EXERCISE

Garhart has been involved in athletics as long as he can remember, playing football, basketball, wrestling as well as track and field in high school before playing football in college at the University of Wyoming.

Athletics continued in various forms throughout his life following college, including competitive handball, competitive martial arts, boxing as well as running and biking over long distances such as marathons and half marathons.

He eventually heard about the Senior Olympics in the 2010s, and started to compete before stopping during COVID. He had not competed since 2022.

Garhart said he has continued to be involved with the 307 Boxing Club, and hits the track once the weather permits.

“I lift weights three times a day, year-round. I do cardio three times a day, year-round,” Garhart said. 

Garhart said all those athletics take a toll on your body over the years, which brought up some uncertainty as he went to compete at the state meet in Cheyenne.

“Your body is sort of a history lesson. I’ve got all kinds of injuries,” Garhart said. “I’ve been in sports that cause injuries my whole life.”

He said that he continues to exercise both at home and at the gym, and said there are plenty of ways that people can continue to stay in shape whether it be at the track, at home or at the gym.

“I’m training all the time,” Garhart said.

While most people in their older age tend to compete in longer distance races, he has chosen to compete in the sprints and take advantage of the speed he still has.

“I’m fast for my age, so why not take advantage of it,” Garhart said. “You see a lot of older athletes my age doing marathons, and they’re running them at a slow jog, and you can go a long ways like that … What I really like is lifting … I supposed that goes back to football, and all of that stuff was really fun.”

He said one of the most important things that keeps him true to his routine is a workout book.

“One of the things I learned a long time ago was that you don’t lie to yourself, that’s why I have a workout book. I write that down the night before, and I never cheat on myself,” Garhart said. “I’m generally in the gym before 6, sometimes I get down there and I see what I wrote, and I say don’t cheat, just do it.”

He added that one of the other important things to continue to do is stretch, and find a good routine that helps warm up the entire body while also getting out for continued walks.

“Find yourself a good stretching program. Unlike we sort of were taught years ago that you stretch afterwards, you can do that, but you need to stretch before and you need to warm up,” Garhart said. “Do things that move the whole body. If somebody said to me I only want to do two things and I’m just starting, these are the two things I would say: The first one is walk, get out there in the morning and walk, walk as briskly as you can, and build up your distance and speed.”

He said the other one would be to do something that gets you on the ground. He does an exercise called a Turkish get up, that involves getting off the ground without using your hands and using a dumbbell or weighted item to help make it more challenging.

“That works your whole body. Even to start with, just lay down on the floor and get up, lay down and get up. At my age, you’d be amazed at how many people can’t do that,” Garhart said.

Another thing he suggested would be doing chair sits, as well as leaning push ups as other exercises.

“Try to do movements that encompass the whole body, but don’t start out too fast,” Garhart said.

LOOKING AHEAD

After qualifying for the national competition next year, Garhart is focusing on improving while also recovering so he may be able to compete in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“I think it’d be fun to go compete in Tulsa. I won’t go unless my training goes well,” he said. “If I’m not going to be competitive, I won’t go. There’s no sense of doing that.”

Currently he is only planning to compete in the discus and shot put, but will compete in every event should he be fully recovered and be ready to compete.