Brittany Diamond ’14

Things Brittany Diamond ’14 could, theoretically, lift: one full oil drum; one empty dumpster; a piano; a motorcycle.

A newly minted pro Strongwoman—she placed third in the Strongest Woman in the World competition in Las Vegas in September—Diamond can dead-lift 455 pounds, pull 540 pounds for 50feet, and put up 210 pounds in a log overhead press.

She also bore the financial responsibility of her education, earning an athletic scholarship in a sport—rowing—she hadn’t even attempted before URI. “It was the only way I could afford URI,” Diamond said. “I told my parents I would win enough scholarships to afford it.”

It was rowing that led her to weightlifting. A freshman walk-on to a D-I team, Diamond loved rowing but most looked forward to the days devoted to strength and conditioning training. “It was the one aspect of rowing I did alone, and I like situations where 100 percent of the pressure is on me.”

In her junior year, Diamond competed in a novice Strongwoman competition and won. She was hooked.

Now a personal trainer and one of only 50 professional Strongwomen in the world, Diamond uses her platform to deliver a “message of body positivity.” In college, she and her teammates were weight obsessed. “I was 30 pounds less than I weigh now,” Diamond said. “I feel a responsibility to educate women about healthy weight. And for the first time, people are letting go of the stigma that strong women are manly. I’m here to show people you can be a strong woman, compete, and celebrate your femininity.”

By MaryBeth Reilly-McGreen