Jeannie Longo up for seventh Olympic Games

Jeannie Longo cycling in the 2006 UCI Road World Championships (Photo credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)Photo Gallery>>(BEIJING, July 2) -- 49-year-old French cyclist Jeannie Longo, who is a twelve-time world champion and four-time Olympic medalist, will be in Beijing in August for her seventh consecutive Olympic Games. She will be looking to add another Olympic medal to her already impressive collection; Longo currently has 54 medals in national, world and Olympic competitions under her belt.

Some fans describe her as “monstre sacre,” or “sacred monster,” which is a French term attributed to people like her: professional veterans that are good at what they do, even though they may be a bit eccentric and controversial while doing it. Longo is perhaps the oldest athlete competing in the Beijing Olympic Games. She will participate in the road and time-trial races, both of which she excels at.

Longo has been the “queen” of the road since the 1980s. She’ll turn 50 this October, and is still in excellent shape, a strong contender for a place on the podium in the upcoming Games. This is quite an amazing feat, as many of her rivals were not even born when she first started her cycling career.

It is incredible that such an outstanding biker didn’t actually start out as a cyclist. She was first taught to box and wrestle when she was young by her mother, a P.E. teacher. She turned to skiing at the beginning of her sporting career, but decided to switch to cycling when she didn’t make it to the French national ski team, a wise decision given her splendid tally of medals.