Maria Olivia da Silva
| Maria O. da Silva | |
|---|---|
 Maria O. da Silva at her claimed 125th birthday Template:Deletable image-caption | |
| Born | 28 February 1880? (age 144 years, 268 days?) Itapetininga, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Residence | Astorga, Paraná |
| Occupation | Retired |
| Title | Claimed oldest person ever |
Maria Olívia da Silva (allegedly born 28 February 1880) of Brazil claims to be the world's oldest living person; her age claim has been published by RankBrasil.com, but has not been submitted for validation to Guinness World Records, a competitor.
Biography
da Silva was born in Itapetininga, São Paulo, and lives in Astorga, Paraná.[1] She is of Polish descent. She was married twice[1], the first time allegedly in 1893, and has outlived all but three of her 14 children.[1] Four of them were adopted. Da Silva lives with her 77-year-old adopted son, Aparecido H. Silva.[1]
She is still in good shape, loves to talk, and still has a sharp memory.[1] da Silva eats rice, beans, and bananas every day.[2] Reportedly, she walks every day to the city to prove she is still alive, and to get her pension. Some in Astorga have protested to the city administration, saying she is too old to be obliged to do this daily.
In March 2005 she was first claimed to be ten years older than any verifiably documented living person. At the time, the Guinness World Records website considered then 114-year-old Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, born June 29, 1890, as the world's oldest person, and later retrospectively accepted the claims of María Capovilla, who was then aged 116.
RankBrasil has only produced documents dating from the 1970s or later, including the birth certificate on its website indicating she was born in 1880, and a Brazilian ID with the same birthdate.
The oldest living person verifiably documented by Guiness is the Japanese woman en:Kama Chinen, aged 129 years, 196 days, who was born two years after da Silva was allegedly already married.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Brazilian believed to be world’s oldest woman". Associated Press. 2005-03-04. Archived from the original on 2009-10-11. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7090143/. Retrieved on 2009-10-11.
- ↑ "Oldest Woman-world record set by Maria Olivia da Silva". World Records Academy. Archived from the original on 2009-03-16. http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/human/oldest_woman_world_record_set_by_Maria_Olivia_da_Silva_90175.htm. Retrieved on 2009-10-11.
