82-Year-Old Powerlifter Is Proof That Strength Knows No Age

Powerlifting, a strength sport focused on hoisting up the most weight possible, is often seen as a sport for young and muscular athletes. But Faith O’Reilly, an 82-year-old grandma based in Colorado, is ready to challenge this idea. In an exciting prospect, she’ll soon get to showcase her abilities at a national competition.

Born in St. Louis, O’Reilly moved with her family to Des Moines. She then attended the University of Iowa, where she discovered weightlifting. “While I was in law school I kind of fell in with some people who were doing weightlifting, and they invited me to go to a powerlifting meet with them,” she told the National Senior Games. “I was watching it and thought, ‘Well, I can do that.’” And she indeed did it. O’Reilly committed to the sport, even winning multiple state championships. However, a career move to St. Paul, Minnesota, resulted in her having less and less time to practice, eventually leading her to drop lifting altogether.

Upon her retirement in 2007, O’Reilly rediscovered her love for the sport. Having fallen in love with Saguache, a small town in Colorado, during previous travels with her granddaughter, she settled there. With more free time and surrounded by green landscapes and fresh air, she started lifting again. She even has her own gym setup with special safety bars, allowing her to train on her own time and terms. Now, she has joined the impressive ranks of 95-year-old lifter Catherine Kuehn and 81-year-old Nora Langdon.

Having reaped the benefits of this discipline, O’Reilly recommends it not just for seniors, but everyone who is able to practice it. “It’s overall good for you physically, and as you age you can have problems with bone density and losing muscle tone,” she says. “So this helps you stay fit. I still do a lot of the outdoor yard work and chores of the lodge myself.”

O’Reilly last competed at the 2024 Summer Showdown and Team Cup in Colorado, where she was the oldest competitor overall. Her latest stats show that she had lifted a total of 281.1 pounds—77.1 pounds in Squat, 66.1 pounds in Bench, and 132.2 pounds in Deadlift.

“Besides the workout, it gives you the chance to be involved in an athletic adventure, and the people that do this are a very open and friendly group of people,” O’Reilly says about competing. “You make a lot of connections and get support.”

The octogenarian will now compete at the National Senior Games, which will take place between July 24 and August 4 in Des Moines, Iowa. With powerlifting making its debut this year, O’Reilly is ready to take on the competition as the oldest female participant in this discipline. “It’s really fun to see and interact with other people who are enjoying being more fit than the rest of our age group,” she gushes. “You know, the oldest person who competed in Pittsburgh was 103, so that gives me a goal.”