Sports Illustrated - USA (2021-12)

32 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | SI.COM

SCORECARD

FACE S

IN THE

CROWD

WHEN SHE joined a gym in

Columbia, Md., five years ago,

Tamara Walcott had a single

intention: Get strong. She had just

been through a divorce and was

devoting time to everyone but herself.

“I lost sense of who I was,” Walcott

says. “I had the clarity and I was like,

I want to do something for me.”

Now, the 37-year-old single

mother of two is not only one of the

strongest women in the world but

also, at 285 pounds, 130 pounds

lighter. After just three years as a

competitive powerlifter Walcott set

a world record in September, when

she deadlifted 636 pounds at the

World Raw Powerlifting Showdown

in Kansas City. Competing as a super

heavyweight, she also bench-pressed

165 kg, a personal best, and squatted

265 kg, a competition best.

“I don’t look like the average

athlete, but I’m doing things the

average person can’t do,” Walcott

says. “People see the physical change,

but the mental change I went

TAMARA

WALCOTT

Hometown: St. Croix , U.S. Virgin Islands

Date of Bir th: Dec. 3, 1983

Sport: Weightlifting

Bench Press Personal Best: 165 kg

Squat Personal Best: 265 kg

Photograph by SIMON BRUTY