--- title: 100 Year Old Woman May Set Swimming Record description: Centenarian Mieko Nagaoka may be first person over 100 years old to complete 1500 meter swim in a 25 meter pool canonical: https://time.com/3772299/100-year-old-woman-swimming-record/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-06T16:14:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:31.656Z og:title: 100 Year Old Woman May Set Swimming Record og:description: Mieko Nagaoka swam backstroke for 1 hour, 15 minutes and 54 seconds og:url: https://time.com/3772299/100-year-old-woman-swimming-record/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 100 Year Old Woman May Set Swimming Record twitter:description: Mieko Nagaoka swam backstroke for 1 hour, 15 minutes and 54 seconds twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 100-Year-Old Woman Said to Set Swimming Record > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=38adb096-dff6-42ea-88b6-1a4b8a3c151f&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why You Shouldn't Pee In The Pool [Watch (HLS stream): Why You Shouldn't Pee In The Pool](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/H0urBwaO.m3u8) (2:53)  _Published 2014-06-17. Science explains why you should just hold it in when you go swimming._  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 6, 2015 4:14 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 6, 2015 4:14 PM UTC A Japanese woman is believed to be the first centenarian to complete a 1,500-meter swim in a 25-meter pool, [CNN reports](http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/06/sport/100-year-old-swimmer-record-holder/index.html). Mieko Nagaoka, 100, swam backstroke for 1 hour, 15 minutes and 54 seconds at a Japan Masters Swimming Association event in Matsuyama. Some reports say she has set a world record, but Guinness World Records has yet to verify it. Nagaoka started swimming at age 80 to speed her recovery from a knee injury and has been known to train four times a week for two hours at a time, [according to FINA](http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com%5Fcontent&view=article&id=1559:discover-world-masters-mieko-nagaoka-jpn&catid=54:masters&Itemid=378), the international governing body for aquatic sports. ### These Are The Oldest Living People in the World  Misao Okawa, the world's oldest living person, looks on her 116th birthday celebration at Kurenai Nursing Home on March 5, 2014 in Osaka, Japan. Okawa, born in Tenma, Osaka, on March 5, 1898 to a family of Kimono merchants, married in 1919 and had three children, of which a daughter and a son are still alive, and has four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Okawa is currently 116 years old. Buddhika Weerasinghe—Getty Images  Gertrude Weaver holds a flower given to her a day before her 116th birthday, at Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Camden, Ark., July 3, 2014\. The Gerontology Research Group says Weaver is the oldest person in the United States and second-oldest person in the world. Danny Johnston—AP  Jeralean Talley, photographed at 113, sits in her favorite chair in the living room of her home in Inkster, Mich. on April 2, 2013\. She is now 115. Kimberly P. Mitchell—AP  Susannah Mushatt Jones in her home in Brooklyn on June 11, 2014, a few weeks before her 115th birthday. Joseph C. Lin for TIME  Bernice Madigan, photographed on the cusp of her 110th birthday, is now 115. Dina Rudick—Boston Globe/Getty Images  Emma Morano-Martinuzzi was born on Nov. 29, 1899 and is 114 years old. Danilo Donadio  Antonia Gerena Rivera was born on May 19, 1900 and is now 114 years old. Gerontology Research Group  Ethel Lang celebrates her birthday with her great great grandchildren on Sept. 21, 1987 in the Bear Creek Nursing Home. Lang was born on May 27, 1900, and is now 114. John Preito—Denver Post/Getty Images  Nabi Tajima was born on Aug. 4, 1900 and is 114 years old. Kikai Newsletter  Born September 8, 1900, Blanche Arrington Cobb is photographed celebrating her 110th birthday in 2010\. Now 113, she has lived with her daughter on the Northside in Jacksonville, FL. Jon M. Fletcher—The Florida Times-Union  Anna Stoehr is photographed blowing out the 112 candles on her birthday cake with the help of her great grandchildren and about 180 guests on Oct. 14, 2012 in Millville, Minn. She is now 113. Richard Tsong—AP  Goldie Steinberg was born on Oct. 30, 1900, and is 113 years old. Market Wire  Merle Barwis, photographed at 111 years old, enjoys a birthday beer with family in Victoria, B.C. December 23, 2011\. She is now 113. Lyle StaffordL—Times Colonist ## Transcript The Summer weather is here and the swimming pools are open. That means a chance to cool off and have fun. It also means a chance to do something that most people wont admit to, but many have certainly done, peeing in the pool. And while it might be a time saver new research in the ACS Journal Environmental Science and Technology. Shows that the reaction between uric acid, a component of urine, and chlorine, isn't pretty. Researching ways to keep the environment safe? That's breakthrough science. [ MUSIC ] Professor Ernest Blatchley at Purdue University has been studying swimming pool chemistry for nearly a decade. He teamed up with Professor Jing Li at China Agricultural University, to study two main byproducts of the reaction between uric acid and chlorine. Cyanogen chloride, and trichloramine. These compounds form for a number of reasons, but Blatchley and Li's article highlights the main culprit, uric acid. And where does that come from? Urich acid is almost entirely attributable to human urine in a swimming pool. That's right, peeing in the pool. This was the first kind of direct link between urinating in swimming pools and generating these hazardous disinfection byproducts. So why should swimmers care about this chemical reaction? Cyanogen chloride is a, its a very toxic chemical. Its actually been used as a chemical warfare agent. Exposure to trichloramine does cause irritation of the respiratory system, and it causes irritation of skin tissues in your eyes as well. To be clear, there's not enough enough urine or chlorine in any pool to produce chemical warfare levels of these toxic substances. But people can get sick from breathing in this dangerous combination. There are reported instances where people have become ill. With symptoms that are consistent with poisoning by either cyanogen or trichloramine. Testing for these compounds requires advanced equipment. So there's not much data on pee in the pool related poisonings. But Blatchley and Li do know that the action is swift. Uric acid is very active compound. It will react with the chlorine immediately after they mixed up. And it's common. The average swimmer leaves behind 30 to 80 milliliters of urine in the pool. That's about two ounces per swimmer. Just to be clear, not every swimmer urinates in the pool, but on average that's about how much they leave behind. Chlorine also isn't likely to be taken out of pools anytime soon. Chlorine is really the most popular [ INAUDIBLE ] around the world. So is it safe to swim this summer? THis doesn't keep me from getting in the pool. Although I'm a little more cautious about it than I used to be. And a little more courteous. I have to confess, I'm a swimmer. I have peed in the pool. I don't anymore. Blatchley and Li hope their research will get people to think twice before they go in the water. 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