There are some sports that can be practiced to a certain age, other sports have no strict limits. Gymnastics especially for women is a sport where after 20 you're considered "old" although there were and are a few exceptions. Gymnastics requires a certain level of elasticity. Growing can make your job harder and that's why just a handful of gymnasts can last longer, the majority is retiring early. Most likely there are more sports where your career can't be long but I think gymnastics is the most obvious one.
Reaching the top of your career may seem like the end of the world but not for everyone. There are athletes who have found another sport to utilize their talent at and win medals at competitions.
Today I'd like to introduce you one of my idols who has accomplished a lot and it's like a role model for many. I'm not the fanatic fan type who's stalking celebrities for various reasons, maybe the word idol is too much here but unfortunately could not find a better one.
Her name is Béres Alexandra, or Alexandra Béres the international version if you please. She's known for many things, one of which is being a fitness world champion in 1996 (Ms. Fitness World `96).
She's well known for her fitness career which has not ended when she decided to retire from competitions. She has set up an excellent fitness and diet program to help people lose weight and stay fit. She has her own fitness exercises available on DVD or online and you can also exercise with her at different events but this is only a part of her work.
She's continuing her sport career in curling! I don't know much about curling but I know that it's a sport where age doesn't matter as much as in other sports, you can be over 30 and still practice curling. Alexandra is a curling pro, eleven-time Hungarian women's curling champion. She has participated at international curling competitions but without winning a medal.
Some athletes choose a second sport that is somehow related or similar to their first one. Curling however is very different from fitness, it is more like a mind game in my opinion, maybe similar to snooker in some ways, you have to know where and how to slide the stone on the ice towards a target area.
I can really appreciate her effort and dedication to build a second career in another sport. It's possible as you can see. She's really someone to look up to, a successful business woman, trainer, mother and she has her second sport career.