Iris Davis is a 73 year old native of Ireland, one of 14 siblings and growing up the family were not well off.   She is the holder of 11 titles in women’s bodybuilding, having won 10 first place titles in bona fide NPC competitions at the age of 57.  At age 62, and again at age 63 , she won the Florida State Championship.  At her final show at age 66, she took second place in the Florida State Championship.

Here is a short bio of her fascinating life.

At the age of 18 and living in Ireland, she had her first child who very sadly passed away from pneumonia at age 2 months.   Needless to say this left Iris devastated and traumatized at such a young age.    At age 22 and now living in London,  she had another son, Kaz.    Tragedy struck Iris again when her husband John passed away due to natural causes while on a business trip.   She now had a 2 month old son and no income.   In order to overcome severe trauma and depression she took  to walking up and down the streets of London trying to find peace.    She quickly came to realize there was no way she could find solace in London and decided she needed to get out of there.    She looked for a job in the USA as a nanny, knowing that way she could take care of her son whilst  she worked.   She quickly found a job and arrived in the USA the same day her son Kaz was 6 months old.     Again, suffering from devastating and debilitating depression, she joined her first gym at age 23.

She soon found that every time she was in the gym, all her sadness seemed to disappear as she was so engrossed in what she was doing, she realized that she had found her own cure for her depression.   During the next 10 years or so Iris suffered from three nervous breakdowns and was hospitalized on each occasion.   Life was not always easy, but she never gave up and never lost her passion for fitness.. Eventually she married her husband Robert and moved back to London  Tragedy was never far from Iris   At age 47 while working at an investment bank she contracted Encephalitis while working.   As a result of this illness she had to resign from the bank and was bedridden for 2 years.    As soon as she could went back to the gym and clawed her way back to fitness and at age 50 she entered and won her first bodybuilding competition.    in 1997 she moved back to USA this time to Florida where at the age of 57/58 she won 10 National Physique Titles and never looked back.   Iris is now a Master Personal Trainer, some of her clients have gone on to win titles in bodybuilding shows.

At the age of 73 she still is passionate about keeping fit and inspires both young and not so young daily at her job.   She has no desire to retire and is able to perform feats that defy her age.   To this day, she still suffers from depression and Encephalitis, and gives great credit to her husband Robert for helping her cope.  Her son Kaz is now a successful business owner in England and Iris makes frequent trips to visit him, his wife and grandchildren.