100-year-old woman is beer-pong master

Happiness is not being free of financial worries, not sipping endless cocktails on a paradise island, not living in a world in which peace and good will reign supreme… no – happiness, let me tell you, is a 100-year-old woman surprising herself by being really good at beer-pong.

This noble sport, of which the birthday centenarian in the video below is a boss, is thought to have originated within the fraternities of Dartmouth College in the US in the 1960s – when this unstoppable woman, filmed here by her grandson in Prospects Heights, Illinois, in late July, was approaching retirement age.

Indeed, such is her longevity that ping-pong as we know it had only been around for a little over a decade by the time she was born (the term ‘ping-pong’ was trademarked by British manufacturer J Jaques & Son Ltd in 1901 and the pads and balls used today were pioneered around that time).

Just to be capable of breathing after 100 years subject to the buffeting of life’s forces is impressive enough, but to have the hand-eye co-ordination, the command of one’s limbs to do what this woman does – that’s something worth cheering about.

Lady, we salute you.