Star Athlete Joyner Kersee Kicks Off St. Louis Senior Olympics

An opening ceremony kicked off the 32nd on Thursday afternoon at the St. Louis (JCC) in the Staenberg Family Complex. The first Senior Olympics happened in 1980 at the JCC to help celebrate the center's 100th anniversary. Other local, state and national Senior Olympics events blossomed from the St. Louis gathering.

Several residents living in the 63105 ZIP code, which includes Clayton, are registered to participate in the games this weekend, stated Phil Ruben, director of the St. Louis Senior Olympics, in an email. They are:

• Ron Szweda ()
• Bonnie Bernstein
• Bryna Blustein
• Helen McGlynn
• Patricia Moore
• Thomas Geller

No one in the 63117 ZIP code, which includes Richmond Heights, had registered to participate as of May 9, Ruben stated.

On Thursday, former U.S. Olympian Jackie Joyner Kersee told the athletes that they inspire her. Neal Boyd sang the national anthem. He won the 2008 America's Got Talent competition. Two Senior Olympics participants lit the torch.

Dottie Gray does her best to run a 5K race every weekend. Gray is 86 years old and has participated in the St. Louis Senior Olympics since 1982.

"I've been to the nationals everytime since they started," Gray said.

She runs all the track events and is going to this year's nationals in Houston. "I'm a little competitive," she said. "I enjoy running, and seeing all the people we know, and we meet people from other cities." She lived in Kirkwood for 57 years and now lives in Shrewsbury.

Ruben, the director of this year's games, said most people participate for the camaraderie and fun. Some use the St. Louis games to train for the state or national games, which are held every other year. In St. Louis, 1,200 athletes will participate this year in 85 events at 13 venues. They are supported by 300 volunteers as well as staff from the JCC.

Terry Moore, 72, taught math at in Webster Groves for 30 years. He now lives in a Webster Groves retirement community, where he helped start up a pool volleyball team.

"We use a large beach ball instead of a small volleyball, so there's less danger of injury," Moore said. His group pioneered the event in St. Louis and brought it to the Senior Olympics.

Bill Cannon is 80 and has been competing since 1988. He started off with swimming and now does track and field, too. He had high hopes for his first Olympics but only won two bronze medals because, he said, the competition keeps getting better. Since '88, though, he's accumulated more than 2,000 medals.

"If the world would just look at us, and more people would do what we're doing," Cannon said, "our health care system would be totally different from what it is today."

Cannon competes around the country, and he still works full-time as a business development manager in the automotive after-market industry.

Salvador Paez, 70, has been competing for "15 good years," he said. He added he's never met anybody in the Senior Olympics he didn't like. He's going to the nationals this year in badminton and shuffleboard.

Joyner Kersee, the former Olympian, told the athletes she admires them because they have the heart to get out and to give everything they can.

"It really says a lot to the younger generation," she said, "because if we keep our mind and our body strong, we can do anything. You are the example."