Inside nonagenarian athlete, Olga Kotelko’s brain – Effects of exercise on brain and cognition


University of Illinois Beckman Institute researcher Agnieszka Burzynska and her colleagues analyzed the brain and cognition of Olga Kotelko, a 93-year-old track-and-field athlete on the effects of exercise on the brains and cognitive abilities of the “oldest old”. Data was collected from adults who were between 60 and 80 years old. Lacking a peer group of healthy nonagenarians for comparison, the researchers decided to compare Kotelko with a group of 58 healthy, low-active women who were 60 to 78 years old. “Although it is tough to generalize from a single study participant to other individuals, we felt very fortunate to have an opportunity to study the brain and cognition of such an exceptional individual,” said Beckman Institute director Art Kramer.