KINGSTON, Jamaica — Despite her youthful appearance, it may come as a surprise that Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn has recently reached the milestone of 60 years.

The former sprinter-turned-politician celebrated her birthday on April 9 at a villa surrounded by her immediate family.

Speaking with Observer Online, Cuthbert-Flynn shared that turning 60 was a truly amazing experience.

“First of all, it feels absolutely amazing to be alive, that’s first and foremost. And it was an amazing feeling to be able to celebrate it with my family,” said Cuthbert-Flynn.

According to Cuthbert-Flynn, the discipline she garnered in her 20-year athletic career is a quality that she credits with helping her to age gracefully.

“Over 20 years, I competed professionally on the international stage. And so, the discipline that I had when I competed was the same discipline that I took with me in my regular life, my non-athletic life; with my eating, and pretty much with everything.

“Genetics play an important role in anybody staying young looking.  Genetics and also your lifestyle. I don’t overindulge in drinking and partying and or being out there,” added Cuthbert-Flynn.

While maintaining a healthy lifestyle is important to Cuthbert-Flynn, the state minister doesn’t pass on cake, particularly Italian cream cake.

“It is my favourite cake. Nobody really does it in Jamaica – nobody sells it. But I got Suzie’s bakery to do the honour and bake that cake for me, specifically for my birthday.”

“I pretty much ate most of it. My husband is vegan and, of course, Zara, my daughter, would not be able to…. So I devoured that cake,” she added.

In addition to maintaining a healthy diet, Cuthbert-Flynn shared that she is also careful to manage her stress, noting that she checks it at the door.

“I vent. I get over it. And I’m done. I do not carry on. Immediately I will vent and say what I need to say and I’m done,” she said.

“So if it is that there’s something bothering me – Nothing really bothers me for any long period of time – because what I try to do, I try to tackle a problem. I prefer solving a problem than having something linger and fester. So I like to attack whatever it is that is happening and make sure that it is attended to,” she added.

Cuthbert-Flynn explained that for her 50th birthday she had a party, but this time around she chose a more intimate event.

“For 50, I had a party- and at 60 I wanted more quiet time to reflect, time to look back at all of these decades that I’ve been around and just to really give thanks and I wanted to do it in a quiet way and I wanted to do it with my family,” she said. “And that is exactly what we did. We didn’t have any party or anything. It was just more of staying in a nice villa and just celebrating with a cake.