For 90YO Track Athlete Florence Meiler, Breaking Records Is Part Of Her Routine

Florence Meiler is yet another woman who is proving that age is indeed just a number in the face of sport. At 90 years old, Meiler is the epitome of fitness as she continues to collect medals in track and field at a time when many enjoy their retirement. She is one of the most decorated senior athletes and aims to be one of the world's first woman decathletes.

Who Is Florence Meiler?

Florence Meiler grew up on a dairy farm near New York, where she was required to do a lot of heavy lifting and labour on a daily basis. Even in high school, she was a ''pretty busy student'' and put her time into participating in athletics and basketball, tap dancing, acrobatics, and even playing the piano and the organ.

As an adult, Meiler competed in slalom water skiing for three decades, which helped to build her strength for her eventual entry into track and field around age 60. She started training with her friend Barabara Jordan, with whom she competed in Senior Games for the next 20 years or so. Jordan has taken a break from track and girls for several years now, so Meiler trains alone. 

In her home in Lakeside, California, which she has been living in with her husband Eugene for 64 years now, Meiler showed CBS her walls and bookshelf covered in medals. She told them that she has around 1500 medals and certificates on display, which she has been collecting her whole life. 

Watch the full interview here.

Meiler's track and field record

Most recently, she was training for the USA Masters Combined Events Championship in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she participated in 10 events over two days. This 10-event decathlon has not been open to women, who have been participating in the seven-event heptathlon instead. However, athletes like Meiler have been wanting to change this. 

At the championship at the end of June, Meiler participated in events like the hurdles, shot put, discus, javelin, and the 100-meter, 400-meter, and 1500-meter races, among others.

CBS also talked to other decathletes who discussed how the decathlon is still not open to women at the Olympics, and how there is a wave of young athletes, and old, in the case of Meiler, who have been wanting to change this.