Name: Janice (Jan) Todd, Ph.D.
Date of Birth: 5-22-1952
Hometown: Lock #4, Penna (Birthplace); Graduated high school in Plant City, Fla.
Current Residence: 6470 Prairie Lea Road, Kingsbury, Texas, 78638; Work in Austin, Texas
Current Pursuits:
Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology & Health Education, The University of Texas at Austin
Co-director of the Todd-McLean Physical Culture Collection at UT and co-editor of Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture.
I also work as co-director of the Arnold Strongest Man Contest held each year in conjunction with the Arnold Classic.
We live on a 300+ acre cattle ranch on the San Marcos River with a menagerie of animals including 5 peacocks, a Percheron draft horse, two Sicilian donkeys, 3 English Mastiff dogs, an Emu, and three Maine Coon Cats.
Lifting History
When did you get involved with powerlifting and what got you interested in the sport? I began lifting in 1973 shortly after marrying Terry Todd who was powerlifting’s first superheavyweight champion for men. I didn’t compete in a contest, however, until May of 1975 when I lifted at the Chatanooga Open and broke my first record.
Powerlifting Accomplishments
1975
Broke 49 year old Guinness record in the two-hand deadlift with a lift of 394.5 pounds in first competition, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1976
First woman to officially exceed 400 pounds in any powerlift with a deadlift of 412 pounds, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.
1977
First Place, All American Women’s Open. Nashua, New Hampshire. (This was the first sanctioned national meet for women.)
First woman to officially squat more than 400 pounds. 1978
First woman to total over 1, 000 pounds in the three powerlifts (squat, bench press and deadlift), Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland, Canada.
First woman to total over 1100 pounds in the three powerlifts, Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland, Canada.
1979
Lifted the highest total of any woman in the First IPF Women's World Championships, Billerica, Massachusetts.
First and, as far as I know still the only woman to lift the famous Dinnie Stones in Scotland. [In the highlands of Scotland, lifting boulders was one of the rites of passage into manhood, thus they are called "manhood stones.] The Dinnie Stones, at 780 pounds, are the heaviest such stones in Scotland and have been lifted by only a few men over the centuries.
1981
First woman inducted into International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) Hall of Fame
First woman to exceed 500 pounds in any powerlift: 507-pound squat, Memphis, Tennessee. Established my highest world records in the heavyweight division: World Record squat of 545.5 pounds, World Record deadlift of 479 pounds, and World Record total of 1229.5 pounds, Columbus, Georgia.
1982
First woman to total over 1200 pounds in the three powerlifts, Atlanta, Georgia.
First athlete (male or female) to establish a world record in the newly formed American Drug Free Powerlifting Association: 446-pound deadlift at a bodyweight of 148 pounds, Mobile, Alabama.
1983
World record deadlift of 474.5 pounds at a bodyweight of 146 pounds (USPF nationals)
1984
American Drug Free National Powerlifting Championships--Gold Medal.
American Record deadlift: 463.5 pounds at a bodyweight of 163.
1996
American Master's (40-44) Record in deadlift of 425 pounds. American Drug Free Powerlifting Association, Austin, Texas.
http://www.usapowerlifting.com/halloffame/women/jan_todd/index.shtml
