ST. LOUIS — "I wasn't a competitive athlete. I'm mostly retired."
That's how Nancy Taylor describes herself. Even family never thought she'd end up weightlifting. But it's now a passion.
"I talked to my elderly aunt yesterday and she said 'I would never have thought you would be doing weightlifting,'" said Taylor.
Taylor says the sport captures her imagination and that it challenges her.
"I train five to six days a week," explained Taylor. "It's really a pursuit of excellence. It's the focus of all your energy on one instant. You're completely focused on this one thing in the world and it's awesome."
Weightlifting isn't something Taylor has done since she was younger, or even most of her life, but now is a big part of her daily routine.
"I've been doing it now for about eight years and five years sort of more focused," said Taylor.
Taylor says weightlifting is mainly just two different lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk.
"Neat thing about it is you compete against other people your own size, weight, age and gender. I'm competing against other small older women," Taylor said with a laugh.
Taylor is competing in some big competitions and taking home big hardware.
"I just competed in the Masters Worlds and I got silver. I beat the German by one point."
At the end of the day, there's one simple reason why Taylor says she hits the gym almost daily and gets it done.
"It's just great," Taylor said. "That's why I do it."