Local senior citizen wins five medals

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  • Freeman earned five gold medals in two separate track and country events.
    Freeman earned five gold medals in two separate track and country events.
  • Freeman earned five gold medals in two separate track and country events.
    Freeman earned five gold medals in two separate track and country events.
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A longtime resident of Madill, Ken Freeman almost always looks at the positive side of life and said all a person needs for success is the drive to make it.

“It’s not how good you are, but how bad you want it,” Freeman said with a sly smile. “You can do anything if you want it bad enough.”

Freeman spends his spare time proving his saying right. Freeman is an extremely active 80-year-old and has not one, but two recently acquired accolades to be proud of.

The octogenarian won first place medals in two separate track and field competitions. The awe-inspiring concept about the entire thing is he competed in both events just one week apart.

On September 28, Freeman competed in the Ardmore Senior Games hosted by the Ardmore Institute of Health. Freeman won two gold medals in the Ardmore games for first place in Shot Put and first in the Discus throw.

Then, just one short week later, Freeman competed in the 2019 Oklahoma Senior Games on October 6 held in Shawnee. His first place gold medals for that event were for Shot Put, the Discus Throw and the High Jump.

Freeman is originally from Madill, he graduated from Madill High School in 1958. Even though he lived other places, he made sure to head back to his home to retire. The octogenarian sold institutional foods for 35 years, then had one other business for 12 years.

After retiring for a second time, Freeman decided to spend his time winning gold medals in track and field events.

Freeman said in 1989, he competed in California. Even though he was younger, it was still the senior games. The athlete said he competed against Parry O’Brien, a multi-medal Olympic winner who invented the current way to throw the Shot Put. He also is the current world record holder for Shot Put at 19.30 meters.

At the event held 30 years ago, Freeman placed first in the Triple Jump and Second in the Long Jump.

“It’s not how good you are, but how bad you want it.”
- Ken Freeman

Freeman said his children thought he was crazy when he entered the High Jump in Shawnee.

“My kids laughed at me when I told them I was doing the High Jump,” Freeman said.

The scary part of the High Jump was the 80-year-old had a quadruple bypass 18 years ago. Even though he was worried that he might pop something when he landed, it did not stop him from competing. It definitely did not stop him from taking the first place medal.

For the Shawnee games, Freeman threw the Discus for 13.8 meters (45’ 3.31”), the Shot Put for 8.5 meters (27’ 10.65”), and his High Jump winning number was .86 meters (2’ 9.86”).