Madonna Buder

Madonna Buder, (born Marie Dorothy Buder; July 24, 1930), also known as the Iron Nun, is an American Senior Olympian triathlete and religious sister. Buder has the current world record for the oldest woman to ever finish an Ironman Triathlon, which she obtained at age 82 by finishing the Subaru Ironman Canada on August 26, 2012.

Early life and religious ministry Marie Dorothy Buder was born in St. Louis, Missouri on July 24, 1930. She was educated at Visitation Academy of St. Louis, an all-girl Catholic school run by the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. She went on to attend Maryville College for two years, and finished her education at Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a member of the Alpha Iota chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta. She entered a convent of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd at age 23. In 1970, she left the congregation to join 38 other Sisters from different and varying backgrounds to establish a new and non-traditional community of Religious Sisters. She competed in the 2011 Ironman Canada competition but missed the bike cut-off by 2 minutes.

She was willing to compete in an Ironman triathlon again in 2012 as she wanted to open up an 80+ age category and be the oldest person, male or female, to finish an Ironman triathlon. Buder thus became the overall Ironman world record holder in age at age 82 by finishing the Subaru Ironman Canada on August 26, 2012. She beat the record previously held by 81-year-old Lew Hollander who finished the Ironman Kona World Championship in 2011. Buder finished her race in 16:32:00 minutes beating Hollander's time of 16:45:55 although they competed on different courses.

Buder attended the Challenge Family inaugural year in Penticton BC, Canada on August 25, 2013 during the bike portion in a relay team finishing her portion of the Challenge in 7:38:45. At the Volunteer/Athlete Banquet held the next evening on August 26, 2013, Felix Walchshofer, CEO of Challenge Family Penticton, invited Buder to compete in Challenge Roth next year as a single Triathlete.

In 2014, Buder was inducted into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame.

Works and appearances On October 5, 2010, Buder released her autobiography, The Grace to Race: The Wisdom and Inspiration of the 80-Year-Old World Champion Triathlete Known as the Iron Nun.

In 2016, Buder was featured in an ad for Nike, Inc that was aired during the Summer Olympic Games.