Rebecca Roberts (born 18 December 1994), is a Welsh strongwoman and grip athlete, current UK's Strongest Woman 2023 and 2024 and winner of the 2021, 2023 and 2024

World's Strongest Woman World's Strongest Woman (later known as Strongwoman World Championships, World's Strongest Lady and United Strongmen Women's World Championships) is an annual strongwoman contest. The event is often regarded as the most prestigious event in the sp ...

competition. She is one of only 4 women in history to become a multiple World's Strongest Woman champion.

Early life

Roberts grew up in

Bangor, Gwynedd Bangor (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, north Wales. It is the oldest city in Wales. Historic counties of Wales, Historically part of Caernarfonshire, the community had a ...

, in North Wales. She lost her mother at a young age and her father suffered from dementia. She attended

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

where she studied forensic psychology and through university clubs discovered rugby.

Career

Roberts was introduced to strength sports by her partner Paul Savage in 2016. Standing at 6 ft 3 in, and weighing in at , she was a formidable competitor. She was also participating in grip competitions, winning 2017 European Grip Championships in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, WHEA World Championships from 2017 to 2018 in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and 2019 British Grip Championships in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

. Since then, Roberts has competed in numerous strongwoman competitions and also holds several world records. Between 2019 and 2021, Rebecca lost around of bodyweight to improve her stamina and athleticism. She has also won the World's Strongest Natural Woman contest twice, World Grip Championships twice and European Grip Championships.

Personal life

In 2022, Roberts' partner and coach Paul Savage suddenly passed away. She continues to compete in his honour. She is an advocate for body positivity and mental health, partially due to her own experience of bullying due to her weight and size earlier in her career. Roberts works full time but still trains roughly 20 hours a week to be able to compete at an international level. She is very active on social media, posting about her training, competitions and her weight loss journey, as well as the challenges of training while grieving.

Personal records

Deadlift The deadlift is a strength training exercise in which a weight-loaded barbell is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, with the torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting ...

– ''equipped'' *

Rogue A rogue is a person or entity that flouts accepted norms of behavior or strikes out on an independent and possibly destructive path. Rogue, rogues, or going rogue may also refer to: Companies * Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon * ...

Elephant Bar The elephant bar is a barbell developed by Rogue Fitness which is specifically used for the strongman raw deadlift. It was first created in 2016 by Terry Todd, the director of the Arnold Strongman Classic. The bar is known for being long and ma ...

– ''raw with straps'' *Log press – x 2 reps *Axle press – *Dumbbell press – *Behind-the-neck jerk – * Atlas stones – 5 stones from in 28.04 seconds * Natural stones – 4 stones from in 23.91 seconds

References

Strongwomen Welsh strength athletes 1994 births Living people {{Wales-bio-stub