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Master Stroke

November/December 1999

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Master Stroke

Courtesy James Penfield

At 91, James Penfield is making waves. Competing in the Masters swim program, which groups contenders by age, Penfield last year won All-American honors and set a world record in the 100-meter medley. "The longer I stay alive, the more I win," he says. Penfield works out twice a week at a swim club in Seattle, an hour's drive from his bayfront home. A former ambassador to Iceland (where "swimming in the hot springs was lovely"), he lives in Longbranch, Wash., with his wife of 20 years, Georgia. Only one problem: "She doesn't know how to swim."

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