98-year-old swimmer "Mighty Mo" refuses to slow down
This story originally aired on the "CBS Evening News" on September 12, 2019.
Pasadena, California — At the ripe old age of 98, Maurine Kornfeld is at the peak of her career. Around the pool, the woman known as "Mighty Mo" is a legend to everyone but herself.
"I don't want to say we worship her. But we kind of are her biggest fans," said coach Chad Durieux.
Among senior master swimmers, she has earned 14 world championship gold medals, has set 28 world records and was recently inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. All in a career that began at age 65.
A child of the Depression, Kornfeld was told, "good girls don't play sports." But look at her now. This late in life hobby inspires her new family of teammates, training at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena, California.
"What I like about the team is seeing them starting from little or nothing into becoming quite accomplished, and that's really neat," Kornfeld said.