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Badass Grannie is Oldest Skydiver in The World at 102

Hollywood actor Tom Cruise gets a lot of media for doing his own stunts in all his movies, from jumping from rooftops to shooting his own car chase scenes, skydiving or riding on the outside of military planes as they take off.
Irene O'Shea becomes world's oldest person to skydive at 102 6 photos
Photo: YouTube / ABC News
Tom Cruise's record-setting HALO jump for Mission Impossible: FalloutTom Cruise's record-setting HALO jump for Mission Impossible: FalloutTom Cruise's record-setting HALO jump for Mission Impossible: FalloutTom Cruise's record-setting HALO jump for Mission Impossible: FalloutTom Cruise's record-setting HALO jump for Mission Impossible: Fallout
Well, here’s a grannie that can teach him a thing or two about what it’s really like to be a badass: Irene O’Shea is from Athelstone, Australia and, at 102 years of age, she just became the oldest person in the world to skydive, ABC News reports.

Before you assume that Irene has a track record as a skydiver or a professional athlete, just don’t. According to her own statement, she’s not even an adrenaline junkie: she’s just a “regular person,” just a tad more advanced in years.

In fact, Irene went skydiving for the first time when she turned 100, which also marked her first world record. This month, she broke it, by taking her second jump, at 102. She did it with the SA Skydiving pilot she also took her first jump with, and he tells the media everything went smooth. Apparently, Irene is a pleasure to be with both on the ground and in the air. Not that there was any doubt to it.

“O’Shea jumped from 14,000 feet at SA Skydiving's Langhorne Creek Dropzone with instructor Jed Smith, a 24-year-old paramedic who she made her previous jumps with. The pair fell at about 136 mph before the parachute was deployed, according to SA Skydiving,” ABC News reports.

The jump was more than just for Irene’s ego: she did it to raise awareness for the disease that killed her daughter some years ago, motor neurone disease, and to raise money for the Australian association that offers aid in fighting it, the Motor Neurone Disease Association of South Australia.

Irene’s grandchildren and grand-grandchildren were all waiting for her on the ground, to congratulate her on her feat. Here’s how it went:

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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