Edith trains at a gym.

Gulf Today Report

The Guinness World Records gave its title for the oldest competitive powerlifter to Edith Murway-Traina as a record holder after celebrating her 100th birthday.  

Lifting weights upwards of 40-150 pounds, Edith is smashing the competitive powerlifting circuit, dazzling viewers and judges alike with her graceful lifts. Edith was born in the Bronx, New York, to an Irish mother and a Latvian father.

She has stopped lifting weights over COVID-19 but she is now back in the gym 3 times a week with her coach and is preparing for another competition next November.

As a former dance teacher at the local recreation centre, she is no stranger to physical movement. She enjoyed the experience and shared it with others when she could. In fact, through dance, Edith met her now close friend, Carmen Gutworth.

Edith shows her Guinness certificate.

Carmen invited the then 91-year-old Edith to join her at the gym a few years later and she quickly became interested in lifting.  

“While I was watching those ladies doing their thing, I thought I just as well should pick up a few bars, and I did,” she 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,” she added.