--- title: Rio 2016 Olympics: Ryan Lochte, Adam Peaty Grandmas description: These amazing Olympic grandmas are proving that age is no barrier to contributing to the spirit of the summer's Olympics in Rio. canonical: https://time.com/4444968/rio-2016-olympic-grandmas/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-09T17:15:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:15.876Z og:title: These Olympic Grandmas Are the Real Rio 2016 Winners og:description: Age is no barrier for these women to contribute to the spirit of the Games. og:url: https://time.com/4444968/rio-2016-olympic-grandmas/ 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: These Olympic Grandmas Are the Real Rio 2016 Winners twitter:description: Age is no barrier for these women to contribute to the spirit of the Games. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # These Olympic Grandmas Are the Real Rio 2016 Winners > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 9, 2016 5:15 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 9, 2016 5:15 PM UTC It takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to reach the levels of athleticism that qualify you to [compete as an Olympic athlete](http://time.com/4424414/rio-olympics-2016-summer-athletes/?iid=sr-link1). It also takes a lot of energy and passion to be a supporter of the Games, especially if you’re a grandparent of one of the athletes. Your job? Enthusiastic cheering. Your fate? To go viral. Let’s take a look at three amazing women who [may not be playing a sport](http://time.com/4442634/ledecky-gold-world-record-rio-2016-olympics/?iid=sr-link6) this summer, but are still making a mark on this summer’s events in Rio. First up: [American swimmer Ryan Lochte’s](http://time.com/4439596/pancakes-fettuccine-and-tofu-heres-ryan-lochtes-free-for-all-daily-diet/?iid=sr-link2) grandma is no stranger to having a winning grandson. After all, he was a major medal-winning sensation in 2012\. Now 95, she’s still keeping the Olympic spirit alive. She celebrated from her nursing home in the U.S., carrying a makeshift Olympic Torch as she led a procession. “Representing #USA,” grandson Lochte said of his devoted grandma. Naturally, Lochte’s fans went wild, retweeting the video nearly nine thousand times. > [](https://twitter.com/RyanLochte/status/762788448465981440) The Internet has also gone wild for British swimmer Adam Peaty’s [social media-savvy grandmother](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/08/rio-2016-adam-peatys-grandmother-olympicnan-celebrates-win-on-twitter), who has been tweeting up a storm in support of her 21-year-old grandson. Peaty won Great Britain’s first gold medal of the games in the 100-meter breaststroke over the weekend. The 74-year-old has christened herself “#OlympicNan,” and denizens of the web have become so enamored with her earnest messages to the athlete (and expert-level use of emojis) that even Google itself sent her a tweet in recognition. > [](https://twitter.com/Mavise42Mavis/status/762385410995748864) > [](https://twitter.com/Mavise42Mavis/status/762455988771303424) > [](https://twitter.com/Mavise42Mavis/status/762471371360174080) > [](https://twitter.com/google/status/762454680530063368) (She sent out a sportsmanlike shoutout to Lochte’s grandma, too, after seeing the video that Lochte had posted.) Finally, Brazil has [its own “extreme granny.”](https://www.rio2016.com/en/news/extreme-granny-oldest-torchbearer-olympics-rio-2016-torch-relay) At 106, Aida Gemanque — who goes by Grandma Iaiá — is the oldest person in Olympic history to carry the Olympic torch, which she did in June in the Brazilian region of Macapá. She’s called the “extreme granny,” though, for a different reason: just three years ago, she solidified her status as a bona fide daredevil when she became the world’s oldest skydiver (a title verified by the Guinness Book of World Records). > [](https://twitter.com/Rio2016%5Fen/status/744276034367946752) Age is no limit for these women to contribute to the spirit of the Games. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4444968/rio-2016-olympic-grandmas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4444968/rio-2016-olympic-grandmas/"},"headline":"These Olympic Grandmas Are the Real Rio 2016 Winners","datePublished":"2016-08-09T17:15:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:15.876Z","description":"Age is no barrier for these women to contribute to the spirit of the Games","url":"https://time.com/4444968/rio-2016-olympic-grandmas/","keywords":["Newsfeed","olympics","viral","Summer Olympics","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4444968/rio-2016-olympic-grandmas/","name":"These Olympic Grandmas Are the Real Rio 2016 Winners"}}]}] ```