On her 100th birthday, Edith Murway-Traina set a world record becoming the oldest competitive powerlifter.
They saw age is just a number. This is especially true for Edith Murway-Traina.
At 100 years old, Murway-Traina is the oldest competitive powerlifter breaking the world record, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. She turned 100 on Aug. 8 and was able to celebrate her birthday by accomplishing something great.
“Lifting weights upwards of 40-150 pounds, Edith is smashing the competitive powerlifting circuit, dazzling viewers and judges alike with her graceful lifts,” a Guinness World Record press release says.
Amazingly, Edith Murway-Traina was not always a powerlifter. She grew up as a dancer and eventually went onto teach the art. She idolized the likes of Shirley Temple and Ginger Rogers. This led her to dance and it ended up being a road to powerlifting. Through dance, she met Carmen Gutworth, who introduced her to the gym at 91 years old. This is when Murway-Traina began training in the gym.
Murway-Traina did not always plan to become a competitive lifter. Once she began lifting at the gym, she enjoyed it so much that competing seemed like the best logical move.
“While I was watching those ladies doing their thing, I thought I just as well should pick up a few bars, and I did,” Murway-Traina said.
“Going on a regular basis, I found that I was enjoying it, and I was challenging myself to get a little bit better and a little bit better. Before long, I was part of the team.”
She last competed in 2019 when she was 98 years old. Murway-Traina was forced to take a break from competing due to the COVID-19 pandemic but she is not finished just yet. Murway-Traina plans to return to competition in November and she will continue to extend her record moving forward.
“As a performer and a dancer, applause was always a very important part of my enjoyment,” Murway-Traina said. “As long as I could get a little bit of applause, I was happier each I time I got more and more applause. Once people found out I was in my nineties and I was doing all of these things, it got to be more noticeable. People got to pay attention more.”
This happened right away as Murway-Traina began racking up trophies and recognition during her early days as a powerlifter.
Below, Edith Murway-Traina’s record-breaking lifts can be seen in a recent YouTube video on the Guinness World Records page. While continuing to total some personal achievements, Murway-Traina is showing that it is never too late to get into something new. More importantly, it is never too late to better yourself and accomplish personal goals.
For more news and updates, follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.