--- title: "Iron Nun" Who Runs Triathalons Stars in Nike Ad description: Sister Madonna Buder runs triathalons. She's awesome. And now, she's the star of a new Nike ad. canonical: https://time.com/4458187/iron-nun-nike-ad/ author: Lindsay Kimble article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-18T20:15:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:11.419Z og:title: An 86-Year-Old Triathlon-Running Nun Stars in New Nike Ad og:description: She has no plans to slow down og:url: https://time.com/4458187/iron-nun-nike-ad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4406a04dcc47e9da/6988a2def887dc7d03e971ee/nike-sister-buder-nun.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1600 og:image:height: 900 og:image:alt: nike-sister-buder-nun og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: An 86-Year-Old Triathlon-Running Nun Stars in New Nike Ad twitter:description: She has no plans to slow down twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4406a04dcc47e9da/6988a2def887dc7d03e971ee/nike-sister-buder-nun.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # An 86-Year-Old Triathlon-Running 'Iron Nun' Stars in New Nike Ad > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=9da6508f-f552-4fdc-99a4-1e8c5c055a0b&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Lindsay Kimble](https://time.com/author/lindsay-kimble-people/) ## Lindsay Kimble Aug 18, 2016 8:15 PM UTC  Nike by [Lindsay Kimble](https://time.com/author/lindsay-kimble-people/) ## Lindsay Kimble Aug 18, 2016 8:15 PM UTC Don’t ask 86-year-old Sister Madonna Buder to slow down – she won’t. The nun is the star of Nike’s new “Unlimited Youth” ad, where she shows off her impressive athletic skills. Narrated by _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_‘ [Oscar Isaac](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:OscarIsaac,00.html), the clip features Buder in her habit at church, on a morning run, swimming in open water, bicycling on mountainous terrain and taking part in an Ironman triathlon – she’s finished 45. Despite Isaac’s increasing concern over how hard Buder is pushing herself, the sister keeps on going. Eventually, after learning her “Iron Nun” nickname, Isaac contends, “Do your thing sister, do your thing.” In behind-the-scenes video from the shoot, Buder reveals that she wasn’t introduced to running until age 47 or 48, when a priest suggested it. “There was a point where I did not want to see a pair of running shoes, then triathlon came in,” she explains. “That was the salvation.” Buder is the oldest woman to ever complete an Ironman triathlon, a feat she accomplished four years ago, according to [Nike](http://news.nike.com/news/unlimited-youth-sister-madonna-buder). The race requires participants to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles – Buder holds the record for best finishing time in the 80 to 84 age group. “There were a lot of times where I had to think about failures and not reaching the goal that I set for myself,” she said. “Then I realized, the only failure is not to try.” The ad is the latest in Nike’s [Unlimited campaign](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEX7KhIA3bU), which has spots that include[Serena Williams](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:SerenaWilliams,00.html), Mo Farah, [Gabby Douglas](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:GabrielleDouglas,00.html) and transgender duathlete [Chris Mosier](http://www.people.com/article/chris-mosier-nike-ad). _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/86-year-old-nun-in-nike-ad) _originally appeared on_ [_People_](http://www.people.com/people/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4458187/iron-nun-nike-ad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4458187/iron-nun-nike-ad/"},"headline":"An 86-Year-Old Triathlon-Running 'Iron Nun' Stars in New Nike Ad","datePublished":"2016-08-18T20:15:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:11.419Z","description":"She has no plans to slow down","url":"https://time.com/4458187/iron-nun-nike-ad/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4406a04dcc47e9da/6988a2def887dc7d03e971ee/nike-sister-buder-nun.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lindsay Kimble","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lindsay-kimble-people/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4406a04dcc47e9da/6988a2def887dc7d03e971ee/nike-sister-buder-nun.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"nike-sister-buder-nun","caption":"nike sister buder iron nun","creditText":"Nike","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4458187/iron-nun-nike-ad/","name":"An 86-Year-Old Triathlon-Running 'Iron Nun' Stars in New Nike Ad"}}]}] ```