Rebecca Roberts (born 18 December 1994), is a Welsh strongwoman and grip athlete.
She is the reigning UK's Strongest Woman and the winner of 2021, 2023 and 2024 World's Strongest Woman competition. She is one of only six women in history to become a multiple World's Strongest Woman champion.
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Early life
Roberts grew up in Bangor, Gwynedd, in North Wales. She lost her mother at a young age and her father suffered from dementia. She attended University of Liverpool 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 180 kg (397 lb), she was a formidable competitor. She was also participating in grip competitions, winning 2017 European Grip Championships in Norway, WHEA World Championships from 2017 to 2018 in Finland and 2019
British Grip Championships in Stafford. Since then, Roberts has competed in numerous strongwoman competitions and also holds several world records. Between 2019 and 2021, Rebecca lost around 50 kg (110 lb) 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 – 280 kg (617 lb) equipped
Rogue Elephant Bar Deadlift – 277 kg (611 lb) raw with straps
Log press – 109 kg (240 lb) x 2 reps
Axle press – 115.8 kg (255 lb)
Dumbbell press – 69.9 kg (154 lb)
Behind-the-neck jerk – 125 kg (276 lb)
Atlas stones – 5 stones from 90.5–147.5 kg (200–325 lb) in 28.04 seconds
Natural stones – 4 stones from 85–145 kg (187–320 lb) in 23.91 seconds