Competing in London in 2011, he claimed to be 100, though his exact age remained a mystery. “I run while talking to God,” he said in explaining his endurance.

Fauja Singh, a British-Indian man believed to be the world's oldest marathon runner, has died in a road accident at the age of 114. Singh, a global icon who was once featured in an Adidas advertising campaign, began running when he was 89 years old. He ran nine full marathons between 2000 and 2013, when he retired.

Fauja Singh, the oldest-ever person to attain worldwide fame as a long-distance runner, died on Monday 14 July after being hit by a car while on a walk. Singh’s claimed date of birth was 1 April 1911, which would have made him 114 years old at the time of his death, although he did not have a birth certificate.