Anecdotal load of crap if you ask me.
If you take a look at professional gaming, you'll notice that the top players are almost always *young*. Reflexes and learning ability diminish with age, younger gamers have an innate advantage. There are, for example, very few professional starcraft players that can keep up after the age of 25.
Another point against it is the contemporary omnipresence of the internet; it's much easier for gamers nowadays to share ideas, techniques and knowledge than it was back in the day, which improves the overall skill level greatly.