Becca Swanson
Rebecca Swanson (born November 20, 1973) is an American powerlifter and professional wrestler. Becca Swanson holds several powerlifting world records for women, including the heaviest squat, heaviest deadlift and the heaviest bench press. Due to her accomplishments in professional powerlifting competition and her multiple world records across many weightlifting disciplines she is called "the world‘s strongest woman" or referred to as "the strongest woman on the planet" or the "strongest woman of all time". Early life. Swanson was born November 20, 1973, in Papillion, Nebraska. She graduated from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1998 with a Bachelor of  Science in Mechanical Engineering. Bodybuilding, powerlifting, and strongwoman. Becca Swanson started out in 1996 with the desire to be a bodybuilder, but ended up with powerlifting. After a few shows, according to her, the larger, more muscular women had fallen out of favor in bodybuilding. She was told that she was just too big for bodybuilding and that motivated her join powerlifting. At the same time, she was very close to some world powerlifting records and thought it best to focus there. She is currently the only woman ever to squat 854 pounds (equipped), only woman to bench press 600  pounds (equipped with bench shirt) and the only woman to deadlift 694 pounds (equipped). She is also the first woman ever to be part of the 2000 pounds club which means she is the first of two women ever to total plus 2000 pounds in a meet on the same day. She has also competed in strongwoman contests, starting in 2002. She is also known for doing 35 kg dumbbell curls for 10 repetitions. Professional wrestling. Harley Race's Wrestling Academy/World League Wrestling (2009-2010). Swanson is a professional wrestler for Harley Race's World League Wrestling based in  Eldon, Missouri. Swanson (as a heel) won the WLW Ladies Championship from Amy Hennig on October 3, 2009 at the WLW Tenth Anniversary Show. On March 12, 2010, Swanson would lose the title to Lucy Mendez in a triple threat match which also included Hennig. On March 13, Swanson was unsuccessful in capturing the WLW Women's Championship for a second time as Hennig would defeat both Swanson and Mendez in a triple threat match.