At 82 years old, Faith O’Reilly is lifting her best life.
The Coloradoan is currently the oldest enlisted female participant in powerlifting at the 2025 National Senior Games, which will feature O’Reilly’s forte for the first time in its history.
GNN has regularly reported on the life stories of silver lifters and the perseverance they demonstrate with an activity most assume to be limited to one’s youth.
That was when O’Reilly took up powerlifting—in law school at the University of Iowa.
“I was watching it and thought, ‘Well, I can do that,'” she said of that first experience, reflecting a can-do attitude she maintained all her life.
That confidence blossomed into a capability that saw her win multiple Iowa state championships as she lifted the double burden of weights and school—graduating and going on to teach undergraduate level legal studies and paralegal work in the criminal justice field.
After retiring and moving to a tiny Colorado town called Saguache from her native Iowa, she took up powerlifting again in 2007 and would recommend it to anyone.
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“It’s overall good for you physically, and as you age you can have problems with bone density and losing muscle tone,” she said according to an article for the National Senior Games Association, where she took a gold medal in the 2023 women’s triathlon relay for the 75 and older bracket in Pittsburgh, which she did with her younger sister and close friend as a team.
“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 says. “You know, the oldest person who competed in Pittsburgh was 103, so that gives me a goal.”
SHARE Faith’s Faith In Her Abilities As She Prepares To Lift Gold This Summer…