Bev Francis (born 15 February 1955) is a retired powerlifter and female bodybuilder from Australia, where she was a national shot put champion. She is also a writer, body building judge and owns a gym in Syosset, New York, in the United States where she now lives. [1]Francis was born 15 February 1955 in Geelong, Australia. She went to the University of Melbourne.
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. Her mountainous trapezius muscles, huge arms and bulging pecs beneath her breasts arrested those who saw the photo. While she wasn't ripped, there was enough definition to delianate the muscles and the fact that she possessed far more muscular size than the most muscular female bodybuilders at the time begged 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 gained notoriety 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.
