Beverley "Bev" Francis (born 15 February 1955) is an Australian gym owner and retired
professional bodybuilder,
powerlifter
Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...
, and national
shot put champion.
Early life
Beverley Francis
was born on 15 February 1955 in
Geelong, Victoria, the youngest of five children. In 1976, she graduated from the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
, where she obtained a degree in physical education and a teaching diploma. She then worked as a high school physical education and mathematics teacher for eight years.
[Bev Francis Powerhouse](_blank)
/ref>
Career
Shot put
As a teenager, Francis became an accomplished shot putter. In February 1974, she began serious training. In 1977, she broke the Australian shot put record. From 1977 to 1979 and 1981 to 1982, she was an Australian track and field team member. She missed the 1980 track season due to a knee injury. In 1982, she won the Australian national shot put championships. Along with shot put, she performed the discus throw
The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...
, javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...
, and 100 meter reserve.
Powerlifting
In 1980, Francis held all world records in the weight class. At the 1981 World Powerlifting Championships, she set a world record when she bench pressed , the first woman's bench press over 300 lb. At the 1982 Australian Powerlifting Championships in Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, she set a world record in the class with a squat of . She won gold medals in her weight class in the International Powerlifting Federation
The International Powerlifting Federation is an international governing body for the sport of powerlifting as recognized by the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).
The IPF was founded in 1972, and comprises member f ...
Championships from 1980 to 1985.
Best lifts
* Squat –
* Bench press –
* Deadlift
The deadlift is a weight training exercise in which a loaded barbell or bar is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting exercises ...
–
Bodybuilding
Professional career
After becoming the first woman to bench press over , a picture of Francis striking a most muscular pose, or "the crab", while wearing a bikini appeared in several bodybuilding magazines around the world. She possessed far more muscular size than the most muscular female bodybuilders at the time. Her powerlifting accolade led to her being invited by producer George Butler to take part in the film '' Pumping Iron II: The Women'', which was being shot around the Cesar's World Cup being held in Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
in December 1983. At that contest, she said she should have been "first or last". She placed in the middle as 8th among 15 competitors.[BEV’S LAST STAND As Seen Live on ESPN](_blank)
Disappointed with the results, she attempted to reinvent her physique along the lines of what was being rewarded, especially after hearing that she was "too muscular" for the judges' tastes.
Francis guest-posed at the 1985 Mr. Olympia competition, igniting the audience. She finished 10th in her Ms. Olympia debut in 1986. In 1987, she won the World Pro Championships. She followed up with three 3rd-place finishes at the Ms. Olympia in 1987, 1988, and 1989, then moved into 2nd place at the Ms. Olympia in 1990 (as runner-up to Lenda Murray
Lenda Murray (born February 22, 1962) is an American professional female bodybuilding champion.
Early life and education
Murray was born in 1962 in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Darcelious and Louvelle Murray. She began participating in or ...
). She had overhauled her physique radically from that 1983 Cesar's World Cup, when she was told she was "too muscular", but at the 1990 Olympia she was told she was "not muscular enough" to top Murray. Determined to win their next meeting, she resolved to build the most densely muscled physique ever seen on a female up to that point.
Ms. Olympia 1991
The 1991 Ms. Olympia contest was the first to be televised live by ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
, broadcasting a women's bodybuilding contest to the largest audience ever at the time (and contributing to the ensuing controversy). To facilitate the network's needs, the competition was held over two days. Rounds one (symmetry) and two (muscularity) were held on Saturday evening, 12 October 1991, whilst rounds three (posing) and four ( posedown) were conducted 24 hours later, with the Sunday night proceedings broadcast live. At the prejudging, Francis walked out with of dense and conditioned muscles stacked on her frame. The audience gasped—none had seen such musculature on a woman before. Almost all the competitors came in considerably larger than at the last competition, surprising not just the mainstream ESPN viewers, but some bodybuilding fans as well. The defending champion Murray was herself 11 lb heavier than the previous year.
At the end of the first night's judging, Francis led the field, four points ahead of Murray. On the second night, just before the start of the final two rounds, ESPN (in an unprecedented move for professional bodybuilding) flashed up the half-time scores for their national audience and those inside the Shrine Auditorium
The Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue in Los Angeles, California. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 139) in 1975, and ...
to see Francis in the lead. Since the posing rounds had never been recognized as opportunities for a lagging competitor to come from behind, most insiders, including Francis herself, predicted that she only had to avoid falling over to take the title. However, at the conclusion of the second night's events, as Francis stood onstage holding hands with Murray, she was announced in 2nd place, with a score of 31 points to Murray's 32. Francis's hand rose halfway to her face in shock before she regained her composure, smiled, and congratulated Murray. This was the slimmest margin of victory yet for a Ms. Olympia win, with Murray edging Francis by only one point. The audience and commentators were thrown off by this result, since Francis was in the lead after the first two (more contentious) rounds, only to be overtaken somehow in the concluding set.
It was usually suggested that the IFBB and ESPN leadership did not want a woman carrying more muscle mass than most middleweight men to be recognized as the planet's premier female bodybuilder, and instructed the judges to swing the contest in Murray's favor. Such interference was not unheard of in the male competition (most controversially at the 1980 Mr. Olympia
The 1980 Mr. Olympia contest was an International Federation of BodyBuilders, IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held on October 4, 1980, at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia.
The event was one of the most debated competitions ...
). A few months later, the IFBB issued a new policy announcement warning that excessive overt muscularity would be marked down, sparking persistent debate over the subjective criteria and "how much is too much". Francis retired afterwards, citing disgust over her controversial loss. She stated in 1993:
Body image and judging criteria
Francis and her career played a significant role in the concurrent turmoil over ideals of form (especially regarding muscle mass) and judging criteria for female bodybuilders, which often relied on vague, contentious, and shifting notions of a "feminine" figure. Her 1983 debut in the made-for-film Cesar's World Cup received much attention for potentially pushing the sport in a more muscular direction. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Steinem was a c ...
commented that her performance "redefined the boundaries of femininity". However, when she placed 8th, her loss led her to spend years changing her look in an attempt to meet the apparent ideal preferred by the judges.
Despite years of attempting to achieve higher scores on the femininity aspect of the contests with measures including a nose job
Rhinoplasty ( grc, ῥίς, rhī́s, nose + grc, πλάσσειν, plássein, to shape), commonly called nose job, medically called nasal reconstruction is a plastic surgery procedure for altering and reconstructing the nose. There are two typ ...
, hair bleaching
Hair bleaching, is the practice of lightening the hair color mainly for cosmetic purposes using bleaching agents. Bleaching can be done alone, combined with a toner, or as a step for further hair coloring. The most common commercial bleaching age ...
, and slimming down her physique by losing muscle, Francis still failed to take first place at the major competitions. However, after successfully developing methods of achieving a more symmetrical physique while maintaining the size built from her powerlifting background (the three power lifts are central to bodybuilding, and bodybuilders with backgrounds as champion powerlifters tend to have tremendous size and density for their frames), she won the World Championship in 1987. She continued to experiment with her physique, leading to a disappointing 1990 Ms. Olympia. There, she was criticized as not having the fullness or muscularity compared to winner Lenda Murray
Lenda Murray (born February 22, 1962) is an American professional female bodybuilding champion.
Early life and education
Murray was born in 1962 in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Darcelious and Louvelle Murray. She began participating in or ...
, and subsequently worked on becoming as massive and symmetrical as possible for the 1991 Olympia. After the ensuing 2nd-place finish and resulting controversy, she retired from bodybuilding.
Marcia Pally, in a 1985 article on the film ''Pumping Iron II: The Women'', had reported that people often thought of Francis as lesbian. Francis commented: "The categorization annoys me more than what I'm accused of. I've been called a transsexual
Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignmen ...
, a man, and a lesbian. People have to stop putting together things that don't belong together. Muscles don't make a woman a lesbian."Building Bodies edited by Pamela L. Moore
/ref>
Contest history
* 1983 Caesars World Cup – 8th
* 1984 IFBB Grand Prix Las Vegas – 8th
* 1986 IFBB Grand Prix Las Vegas – 3rd
* 1986 IFBB LA Pro Championship – 3rd
* 1986 IFBB Ms. International – 3rd
* 1986 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 10th
* 1987 IFBB Pro World Championship – 1st
* 1987 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 3rd
* 1988 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 3rd
* 1989 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 3rd
* 1990 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 2nd
* 1991 IFBB Ms. Olympia – 2nd[Musclememory Bev Francis](_blank)
/ref>
Other work
Francis is the co-author of the book ''Bev Francis' Power Bodybuilding''. She has also produced a training video titled ''Hardcore Training with World Champion Bev Francis''. She has contributed articles to the monthly ''Female Bodybuilding'' magazine and has written for the men's magazines '' Flex'', '' Iron Man'', and ''Muscle & Fitness
''Muscle & Fitness'' is an American fitness and bodybuilding magazine founded in 1935 by Canadian entrepreneur Joe Weider. It was originally published under the title ''Your Physique'', before being renamed to ''Muscle Builder'' in 1954, and acq ...
''.
In 1985, Francis gained notice through her role in the movie '' Pumping Iron II: The Women''. The movie featured her in the 1983 Caesars World Cup. 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
Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...
.
Francis was featured in the 2001 TLC
TLC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Television
* ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2
* TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network
** TLC (Asia), an A ...
documentary '' The Greatest Bodies''.[The Greatest Bodies (Part 2 of 5) ](_blank)
/ref>
Personal life
At the 1983 Caesars World Cup, Francis met IFBB judge and powerlifter Steve Weinberger. She moved in with him on Long Island, New York and they were married on 30 September 1984. They have a son and daughter together. In 1986, she and her husband opened Bev Francis' Bodybuilding Gym on Long Island. In 1990, they expanded the gym to Bev Francis Gold's Gym in Syosset, New York. In 2005, the gym's name was changed to Powerhouse Gym, Bev Francis. She and her husband lived in Syosset prior to their divorce. Bev is now back in Australia living in Geelong with her female partner Lee Johnson.
Legacy
From 1981 to the early 1990s, Francis earned the accolade of "Strongest Woman in History". She was the first woman in the world to bench press over . She broke over 40 world powerlifting records and was undefeated during her powerlifting career. She was inducted into the International Powerlifting Federation
The International Powerlifting Federation is an international governing body for the sport of powerlifting as recognized by the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).
The IPF was founded in 1972, and comprises member f ...
Hall of Fame in 1987.[ thletes Grow Strong in Syosset Gym /ref>
Francis was inducted into the ]IFBB Hall of Fame The IFBB Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to honor outstanding athletes and officials in the sport of bodybuilding. There have been no inductees since 2011.
Induction years
1999
*Carla Dunlap
*Cory Everson
*John Grimek
* Lee Haney
* Rachel Mc ...
in 2000. She is also a judge for the International Federation of BodyBuilders
The International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness (IFBB), headquartered in Las Rozas (Madrid), is an international professional sports governing body for bodybuilding and fitness that oversees many of the sport's major international even ...
(IFBB).
References
External links
Bev Francis Gold's Gym
Comprehensive list of articles on Bev Francis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Bev
1955 births
Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Australian female bodybuilders
Australian powerlifters
Australian female shot putters
Australian women writers
Female powerlifters
LGBT powerlifters
LGBT sportspeople from Australia
LGBT people from New York (state)
American LGBT sportspeople
LGBT writers from Australia
American LGBT writers
Living people
Sportspeople from Geelong
People from Syosset, New York
Professional bodybuilders
Sportspeople from Nassau County, New York
University of Melbourne alumni
Strongwomen
Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia
Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games