The road to becoming an Olympic Athlete is not easy, that is for sure. The athletes at the 2016 Rio Olympics have spent years and years training, perfecting and competing to become the most elite athlete within their sport. This requires many sacrifices and total dedication. Then, as if the years of sacrifices and hurdles were not enough, these athletes usually only have a few prime years to capitalize on their talents.

Olympic athletes generally compete within an age window of 20 to 30. The gymnasts are usually the youngest of the bunch, the oldest competitors are generally found in equestrian and shooting competitions. Team USA has an average age of 26, but the age range of our 554 athletes is 16 to 52 years old.

What I find intriguing about the 2016 Rio Games is that both the young and the old are celebrated. For as long as I can remember, society is most impressed by the youngest athletes. On the other hand, I am noticing the oldest athletes in the 2016 Rio Olympics are being viewed as equally impressive for breaking the "prime age window." Even though the Games show a wide range of ages in each event, the number of athletes over 40 years old is easily overshadowed by those between 20 and 30 years old. Further, the ages considered “old” for Olympic athletes is very different than the general age considered “old” by society. Michael Phelps, for example, is praised for being "old" at his ripe age of 31. In this article, I have chosen to further celebrate the inspirational athletes over 40 years old that are still shining.

The first athlete I would like to mention is Olympian Oksana Chusovitina, representing Uzbekistan in her seventh Olympic Games. Chusovitina is set to be the oldest female gymnast to compete in the Summer Games at 41 years.

Chusovitina's age is well outside of the average range for Olympic gymnasts. Gymnastics, in fact, has the youngest age trend of all Olympic sports. The youngest gymnast of these Games is 16 years old, while most are in their 20s and a few in their 30s. In an interview with the Associated Press, Chusovitina spoke on the topic of her age:

"I am feeling good. On the podium, everyone is the same whether you are 40 or 16. You have to go out and do your routine and your jumps," she said. "But it's a pity there are no points for age."

Chusovitina first competed in the games in 1992 representing the Unified Team. It was at this games where she earned her first gold medal before USA gymnast Simone Biles could even walk. Her son, in fact, is only two years younger than Simone Biles. Additionally, for comparison purposes, Chusovitina is almost twice the age of Aly Raisman, Team USA’s oldest gymnast. Her elite gymnastics career spans more than a quarter of a century. These extra years have allowed her to become the only female gymnast to compete in seven Olympic Games. Further, she is one of two female gymnasts to compete in the Olympics representing three different national teams: The Unified Team in 1992; Uzbekistan in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2016; and Germany in 2008 and 2012.

While Chusovitina clearly defies the age barriers, she has considered retiring several times before. In April 2009 she announced that she intended to only participate in the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships and that she would not continue. But her drive could not be trumped and she competed in several competitions in 2010 winning three silver medals for vault in three different competitions. After competing in her sixth Olympics in London in 2012, she declared she would retire as a gymnast and concentrate on coaching. Despite these claims, she announced that she was not done yet and that she could do more. She is currently competing in her seventh Games and has decided to retire after they end. But this lady is clearly still on fire and has made claims like this before. So who knows, right?

Here is a video of Chusovitina competing in the 2012 London Games at age 37.

The next inspiring athlete I wish to celebrate is Kristin Armstrong, representing Team USA as the oldest female cyclist of all time. Armstrong celebrated her 43rd birthday at this year’s Games in Rio after winning her third straight Olympic time trial. Additionally, she is the first American woman to win an individual event in three consecutive Olympics.

Whereas most Olympic Athletes have stuck to their sport since a very young age, Armstrong did not pick up road cycling until after college. On the other hand, Armstrong had been a junior Olympian in swimming, ran track and distance at the University of Idaho in Moscow and then became a triathlete. Her athletic scope is widespread and pure gold.

Armstrong, like Chusovitina, is a mother to a now five-year-old boy. She temporarily retired to start a family in 2009. She claimed that if all went well with the birth of her son, she would consider returning to cycling. Fortunately, all went well and Armstrong continues to be an inspiration for women, female athletes and mothers.

But Armstrong does not stop here. As if being a full-time mother and a training Olympic three-time-champion isn’t enough, Armstrong holds down a job as a full-time community health director for the St. Luke health system in Boise, Idaho.

Here is a video of Kristin Armstrong speaking on the topic of age:

"I think that for so long we've been told that we should be finished at a certain age. And I think that there's a lot of athletes out there that are actually showing that that's not true.

"For all the moms out there, I hope that this was a very inspiring day."

The final athlete I would like to honor is Mary Hanna. Hanna is the oldest athlete at this year’s 2016 Rio Olympics at age 61. Hanna represents Australia in the equestrian discipline of dressage. Dressage is where "horse and rider are expected to perform from memory a series of predetermined movements.” While Equestrian is not as popular as Gymnastics or Cycling and may even seem a little posh, it is nonetheless an Olympic Sport. Being the best of the best at anything is extremely challenging and Hanna is doing this well over the average age for Olympic athletes.

Hanna has competed at the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2012 and now 2016 Summer Games. She is now Australia’s oldest competitor of all time. Hanna began riding at age 4. She was originally trained in showjumping and event riding but converted to dressage in her twenties.

But with age comes other responsibilities. Athletes such as Simone Biles are only 19 and can afford to spend every single day completely immersed in their sport. On the other hand, Hanna spends only half the year in Europe competing, which is a minimum to compete at the top level of this sport. She does this because she wants to remain a home-based rider and her growing family is her priority. She has both children and grandchildren in Australia making living in Europe full-time too difficult.

Hanna is a mother to three girls; she dreams to be on the same team as her eldest in Tokyo 2020. Yes, you read that correctly. Unlike both Kristin Armstrong and Oskana Chusovitina, Hanna has yet to retire or even think of retiring:

“I’m already planning. The young horse I’ve got at the moment – Boogie Woogie – he’s only just starting on his career and then I have another very nice horse and they will both be the perfect age for Tokyo. So we’re in the planning stage already.”

These three athletes are truly inspirational. While there are several others I could have mentioned, these three have set records not only for their age but for overcming the struggles they face as women athletes. I hope these three influential women serve as inspiration that regardless of your age or gender: if you set your mind to something, it can be achieved.