Former member of Lenovo’s seniors CS:GO team, Silver Snipers, Abbe “BirDie” Borg, 78-years-old is the oldest esport champion in the world. He secured the championship title in the Seniors CS:GO tournament at DreamHack Summer 2019 by winning against Finland, USA & Germany.
Before his professional esports career, Abbe was a professional artist. Abbe told ONE Esports that,
“I make art pieces and sculpture out of paper and napkins while creating rose paintings from brass and copper-clad sheets. I leaned more towards paper than metal over the last two decades because I could always grab a napkin from somewhere and instantly make a paper flower or ballerina to brighten up somebody’s world around them. It kept my hands occupied and agile while creating beautiful ephemeral art given to random people around me to brighten their day. Seeing their smile was always priceless.”
Abbe has also created a piece about his favourite Swedish tradition, the “St. Lucia Dance” which happens once every year on December 13 to commemorate the life of Saint Lucia. Abbe said, “Art is something that speaks to me on a deeply personal level. Some people may see a blank paper canvas but I make an art piece out of it. Inspiration is all around us and one thought can be made into a new sculpture or a new art piece.”
Abbe entered the esports scene in 2016 when he was picked by Lenovo along with several other senior Swedish citizens to form a CSGO team called the Silver Snipers. They first competed in DreamHack Winter 2017 where they eventually lost but won hearts of many. Talking about his training, Abbe said, “I underwent training with the team and spent hours learning about playing CS:GO. I had to learn a lot of new things and develop new skills which were exciting. The whole experience was great and I had loads of fun since the start of this journey.”
Talking about how his name was originated, Abbe said, “I remember that when my son was still young, we went to the supermarket and we got separated. I did the bird whistle as I was looking for him. My son followed the sound and found me. It was a good story that I like to recall. To my son, it’s an endearing way of finding his father and to me, it was an effective way to let him find me so it stuck with me and my team members began calling me Birdie.”
After winning DreamHack last year, Abbe announced his retirement from the Silver Snipers. Looking back at his professional gaming career Abbe said, “My time with Silver Snipers was great and I’ll cherish it greatly. Through my whole experience with the team, I have formed my advocacy in calling for my fellow grandparents and senior citizens to try and play esports. Take it from me — at the age of 78 years, I was able to achieve my goals and became a world champion. It was unexpected but a great feat for someone my age. Playing esports has a lot of benefits and it also fosters connections between generations.”
“Bagging the championship with Silver Snipers is the best achievement especially as we became the proof that it is never too late to try new things and succeed in it. I remember the feeling I had when we first came out to the arena to begin the competition — I was nervous but excited at the same time. I loved how the crowd cheered for both teams and I saw that the crowd was all younger people, so much younger than our team. They cheered and applauded for us when we won.”
“There were five randomly chosen players from the audience that we faced as a team. The chosen players were all under the age of 25. I was nervous but in the end, we won. The crowd cheered so loud, it was awesome.”
Abbe also talked about the popularity of the team in the city and how the team spent their free time clicking photos with their fans. He said,
“Paris has always been my favourite city and being back there reminded me of when I used to travel there with my son and we just did all the museums and art galleries. Getting there made a big impression on me as we were frequently grabbed for photo shoots by young gamers and fans. The audience was exuberant meeting us gray gamers.”
Talking about playing games for a living, Abbe said,
“I may have started a bit older than most gamers but I am certain that my younger self would have fun and would have loved playing esports for a living or as a hobby.”
After his retirement, Abbe has started streaming CS:GO under the name DieHardBirdie on Twitch. He tries other games as well.
“I want to learn how to play Minecraft, and maybe I can play this game with my granddaughter. I always wanted to be able to play games with both my children and grandchildren and now I am teaching my son to play the game and he is in his 50s. Rocket League is also a good game that I want to try and maybe I can try it out with my granddaughter teaching me. She recently taught me Team Fortress 2. Now that’s three generations of my family coming together and bonding while playing video games.”
Talking about the family, Abbe said, “Maybe it is good that I started so late in life and only spend four hours a day gaming versus the younger generation who can spend far many more hours a day. I think it’s important to realize that we need to have balance in our life. Video gaming and live streaming more than 4 hours a day would take away from my quality of life if most of that time is not spent with my wife, kids, grandkids, and family.”
Ubisoft is planning to make a movie based on BirDie’s esports career and the Silver Snipers’ story. To this Abbe replied by stating that, “I heard about this news. I believe (and I hope) that this movie will bring inspiration to everyone, both for the older and younger generation. I think that having a movie about our story would give a fresh perspective on the state of esports and it may show how the division for older players in the esports scene is underrated.” And as for who should play his role in the movie, he said, “Honestly, I am fine with any actor around my age. I think the people making the film would do great in selecting the cast for the film.”
In the end, Abbe believes triumph follows anyone who is diligent and committed.
“Just be patient and try your best. Age does not guarantee any kind of success if one does not work hard to achieve their goals. Success is always sweeter when you work hard and persevere.”
