(Bep van Houdt)

Ingeborg “Kickan” Sjöqvist, the world’s Oldest Olympian, is 100. The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) issued a statement on Thursday commemorating her birthday.
Ingeborg “Kickan” Sjöqvist at the Berlin Olympics. (SOF /Britt-Mari Olsson/ Helsingborgs Dagblad) She competed at the 1932 Los Angeles and 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics in diving, finishing fourth and ninth respectively.

“When I sat my foot on American soil after one weeks boat trip over the Atlantic ocean I thought to myself ‘here comes little me from Kalmar and places my foot in the big world’” she said in the statement from the SOK. “It was a big moment and I can still feel the step I took then in my foot today.”

Sjöqvist insists she still follows sports – “everything, everyday” – and plans to watch the London Olympics. “The summer is saved, I can tell you that. I cannot stop being surprised over the fact that you can sit here in little Rydebäck in Sweden and watch what is going on in the big world at the same time.”