Bev Francis - Bodybuilding Career

Bodybuilding Career

Her list of athletic achievements includes breaking more than 40 powerlifting records, and winning six powerlifting world championships. She was the first woman to officially bench press over 300 pounds. After that, a picture of her appeared in several bodybuilding magazines around the world, doing what's called a most muscular pose or "the crab" while wearing a bikini. While she wasn't ripped, there was enough definition to delineate the muscles, and the fact that she possessed far more muscular size than the most muscular female bodybuilders at the time raised the question, "What would she look like on a bodybuilding stage?" In 1982 she won the Australian national shot put championships. She is best known for her career as a professional bodybuilder. In 1985 she gained notice through her role in the movie Pumping Iron II: The Women directed by George Butler, who was drawn to Francis for her reputation as "history's strongest woman". The film casts her in a controversial role within the ongoing debate over femininity and female muscularity, with her naturally massive size and muscular development challenging preconceived notions about the limits of female bodybuilding.