Twenty-six years after a debilitating accident, United States Paralympics cycling champion Barbara Buchan is proving age is only a number–and records were meant to be broken.
While the comeback kid of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is considered by many to be 41-year-old Dara Torres, on Sept. 10 Barbara Buchan of Bend, Ore. gave Torres a run for her money.
At 52, Buchan is the oldest member of the 2008 United States Paralympic team, where she broke the world record in the individual 3000-meter cycling event, taking home the gold.
It was a quarter century earlier when Buchan crashed while competing for a spot on the 1982 United States cycling team, and was left with permanent brain damage.
Despite physical and cognitive problems that make it hard for her to speak, read or even fix her bike, Buchan has competed in both track and cycling in the last four Olympic Games.