MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And speaking of sports, you might have heard our interview with John Tatum last month. He's the 94-year-old swimmer from Washington, D.C. who was getting ready for three events at the National Senior Games. We wanted to see how we did, so we caught up with him after the games wrapped up.
JOHN TATUM: Well, I got two gold medals and one silver medal, and I call that a successful outing. Although, I wanted to win them all.
MARTIN: Many people wrote in to tell us that John Tatum was an inspiration. We mentioned that to him, and he gave us a little advice for you aspiring athletes.
TATUM: You know, you hear the classic, I'd like to be like you when I grow up. But I try to get everybody to go out and participate in some activity. When they say something about my accomplishment, and I always would come back with, you can do it, too.
MARTIN: And John Tatum tells us he already has his eye on the 2015 senior games.
TATUM: I will, at that time, be 96 years old, so I move up in class. I won't be with the lower 90-year-olds this time. I will be in the upper 90s. Of course, I won't have as many people to compete against, but I intend to be there in two more years. I still love swimming and I love the competition, and I am looking forward to doing this as long as we can, just to keep myself going.
MARTIN: And we'll be following him along the way. Good luck. And that's our program for today. I'm Michel Martin and you've been listening to TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Let's talk more tomorrow. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
